No more salary surprises
Labour law changes, introduced by Greens, to come into effect in P.E.I. on June 1
“The idea here is to break the cycle of discriminatory pay that can take place.” Trish Altass
As of June 1, jobseekers on P.E.I. can expect employers to include either the expected wage or the expected salary range in job postings.
The changes, passed in the P.E.I. legislature last fall, will require employers to provide the compensation details for any publicly posted jobs. The changes also will limit employers from asking potential employees about their past pay history but will provide protection for employees who ask about either their own pay or who provide information about their own pay to co-workers.
Failure to abide by these changes could result in an investigation of the workplace by the province.
The changes were introduced in the legislature by Green MLA Trish Altass, and passed with the support of government MLAS, including Economic Growth Minister Matt Mackay.
In an interview with Saltwire Network on May 16, Altass said research has shown that providing workers with more transparency about pay rates will help reduce wage gaps between genders and for other marginalized workers.
“It opens up that door to equal and fair information for workers and really provides the stability that they need to be able to make good choices and to be empowered in the labour market," Altass said.
During a debate on the bill in the legislature on Nov. 16, 2021, Altass said providing workers with better transparency about pay and salary ranges could help make pay rates more equal between workers.
Altass also said the provision that would limit an employer’s ability to ask about previous pay is intended to reduce pay disparity based on gender, race or other reasons.
She said this is because pay equity gaps often already exist in a worker’s past job experience.
“The idea here is to break the cycle of discriminatory pay that can take place,” Altass said.
“Preventing an employer or prospective employer from asking those questions in a job interview – it takes away that possibility of discriminatory previous pay impacting their future pay.”
In an interview with Saltwire, published in The Guardian May 16, pharmacy assistant Joseph Moniz said he believed he was fired by his employer after asking for a raise. His employer did not give a specific reason for the dismissal, which occurred nine months after he was hired.
Altass also said there are no current provisions in the Employment Standards Act that specifically prohibit employers from punishing workers who either ask for improvements in pay or seek information about the comparative pay rates of other workers. The June 1 changes would prohibit such reprisals.
P.E.I. may be further ahead than other provinces in pay equity between men and women. A 2020 analysis by the pay equity office of the Ontario government found that median and average hourly wages for women on P.E.I. were two per cent lower than for men, which is the smallest gap in the country. By contrast, B.C. and Alberta had the largest wage gaps at 14 per cent.
But Altass said her consultation on the legislated changes found that young workers on P.E.I., regardless of gender, were interested in more pay transparency.
“For young workers in particular, many of them are choosing just not to apply for a job if it doesn’t have a salary range or the wages posted because the process of going through the application can be very lengthy,” Altass said. “They’re just finding that very frustrating.”
Altass said labour law reforms like this bill could help improve retention of young workers on P.E.I. Labour shortages have increasingly been a challenge for employers due, in part, to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.