Every employer shall establish and maintain compensation practices that provide for pay equity in every establishment of the employer [7. (1)].

No employer or bargaining agent shall bargain for or agree to compensation practices that, if adopted, would cause a contravention of subsection (1) [7. (2)].

For the purposes of this Act, pay equity is achieved in an establishment when every female job class in the establishment has been compared to a job class or job classes under the job-to-job method of comparison or the proportional value method of comparison or, in the case of an employer to whom Part III.2 applies, the proxy method of comparison, and any adjustment to the job rate of each female class that is indicated by the comparison has been made [5.1 (1)].

To meet the minimum requirements and to show that pay equity has been achieved, all employers covered by the Act MUST have carried out each of these activities for each of their establishments:

1. Determine job classes, including the gender and job rate of job classes.
2. Determine the value of job classes based on factors of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
3. Conduct comparisons for all female job classes using job-to-job, proportional value or proxy method (proxy is for public sector only and of limited application).
4. Adjust the wages of underpaid female job classes so that they are paid at least as much as an equal or comparable male job class or classes.