Treasury Board secretariat’s request to create multiple pay equity plans for core public servants denied by commissioner

“TBS has not demonstrated that the proposed three plans would be gender-neutral and would not reinforce occupational gender segregation.”

Published Jul 10, 2023 • 4 minute read

PSAC national president Chris Aylward supported the commissioner’s ruling: “We urge the government not to create further delays in the pay equity process.” File photo. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

The federal Pay Equity Commissioner has rejected the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s proposal to establish three separate pay equity plans for over 250,000 employees in the core public service.

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Interim Pay Equity Commissioner Lori Straznicky presented her conclusion in a decision rendered June 22.

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“Based on the evidence presented by (the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat), I cannot conclude that the three plans proposed by TBS will result in greater accuracy and reliability of pay equity results than would be achieved by a single plan,” Straznicky wrote.

The Pay Equity Act came into force in 2021, tasking all employers within the federal government to enact pay equity plans within three years. The deadline is September 2024.

In order for applications to be approved, they need to show that the plans would provide enough male comparators for a comparison of compensation to be made — a threshold test the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) was able to pass. The applicants also have to prove that their plans would proactively address pay-based gender discrimination in the workplace, which Straznicky said TBS did not do.

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This is the second decision on this issue from the commissioner, who partially accepted the Canadian National Railway Company’s application for multiple pay equity plans last year.

The TBS requested the Pay Equity Commissioner’s approval to create three separate pay equity plans, rather than just one, as outlined in the Pay Equity Act, dividing employees in the core federal public service by bargaining agent: employees represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) in one group; employees represented by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) in a second group; and other employees in a third group.

Treasury Board, which is responsible for more than 70 federal organizations, said the proposal for multiple plans was made to take into account the size and complexity of the core public administration. It presented multiple arguments, including that having a single pay equity plan for such a large workforce was unprecedented and inefficient, and that having one large committee develop a single plan would “present obstacles for reaching unanimous agreements.” The commissioner did not accept those arguments as reasons to approve the TBS request.

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According to the commissioner’s report, of 16 certified bargaining agents representing employees in the core public administration, five objected to the TBS application. The unions questioned the proposed three-plan model’s efficiency, administration and ability to measure pay equity.

In her decision, the interim commissioner said the proposed three plans would risk creating barriers to making diverse wage comparisons. She highlighted that limiting the range of male comparators through multiple plans risked perpetuating the existence of wage gaps.

“TBS has not demonstrated that the proposed three plans would be gender-neutral and would not reinforce occupational gender segregation,” Straznicky said. “To the contrary, I find that the proposed structure risks replicating gender segregation…”

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PSAC, which earlier this year made a submission to the commissioner outlining reasons to deny the Treasury Board pitch, said in a news release last week that it was “pleased” with the commissioner’s decision to “deny the government’s plan to water down its implementation of the Pay Equity Act.”

“This proves what we have been saying all along,” PSAC national president Chris Aylward said in the news release. “Treasury Board’s proposal amounts to ‘pay equity lite’ and will inevitably hurt workers — with fewer comparisons and more wage discrimination. This decision is an important step forward on the road to pay equity.”

The Treasury Board secretariat has 30 days to request a judicial review of the decision at the Federal Court.

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“We urge the government not to create further delays in the pay equity process,” Aylward said. “With just over a year remaining until the final pay equity plan is due, it’s time to stop stalling, roll up our sleeves and get to work to end the systemic gender-based pay discrimination in Canada’s largest workforce.”

Barb Couperus, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board secretariat, said the agency was reviewing the commissioner’s ruling and was working to develop and implement a pay equity plan for the core public administration in alignment with the Pay Equity Act.

The agency confirmed it had not yet made a decision on whether to request a judicial review of the decision.

Couperus said the government was working with bargaining agents and employee representatives to establish pay equity committees and to develop a pay equity plan that “identifies gaps between the compensation of jobs held mostly by women and those held mostly by men that involve work of equal value.”

Given the unions’ unanimous support for a single pay equity committee and the creation of a single plan, the commissioner encouraged bargaining agents to work collaboratively with the government on a strategy.