Employers need to count the number of employees in order to determine whether the Act applies to them. Employers in existence on the effective date of the Act also need to count employees to determine whether Part II of the Act applies.
An employer must count ALL its full-time and part-time employees except for students employed for their vacation period. (See Who is an employee?).
- What happens if the number of employees changes?
Private sector employers with ten or more employees must comply with the Act. Once a private sector employer employs ten employees, that employer remains subject to the Act even if there are fewer than ten employees in the future.
- How does the employer count the number of employees?
The actual number of persons employed, as opposed to full-time equivalents, must be counted.
Employers that existed when the Pay Equity Act came into effect must count number of employees in 1987
For private sector employers that existed on January 1, 1988, the number of employees is the average number of employees employed from January 1 to December 31, 1987 [1. (4)]. The method used to calculate the average must be reasonable and provide a fair representation of the actual number of employees that takes into account employment fluctuations throughout the year. For these employers, the number of employees during 1987 determines whether they are subject to Part II requirements and their deadlines for posting plans and first adjustments.
