Are you in line with Quebec’s Pay Equity Act? Fill out our questionnaire for a free assessment:

Does your company have more than 10 salaried employees?

If so, you must conduct a pay equity exercise.

Libera Human Resources has the expertise to provide you with simple, reliable and user-friendly tools.  We can also assist you throughout you pay equity process, from start to finish.

Does Pay Equity seem to you like a long and complicated process?  It may seem complicated indeed, but in fact, there are two types of actions that need to be undertaken:

• Annual Pay Equity Declaration 

If you have 6 employees or more, this must be done on an annual basis;

• Pay Equity Exercice

This process must be done every 5 years if you have or have had an average of 10 employees or more;

Libera Human Resources has been specializing for several years in pay equity compliance and in adapting its interventions according to the Pay Equity Act, while also taking into consideration the reality of your business.

We can help you complete your annual declaration as well as your pay equity exercice, at very competitive rate.

In order to find out what your obligations and responsabilities are with respects to pay equity, we will provide you with a written evaluation of your situation - free of charge.  If you are interested, we can then accompany you throughout the process and offer you comprehensive support. 

What is Pay Equity?

It is a legal obligation for every employer in Quebec whose enterprise employs 10 employees or more. This law, called the Pay Equity Act, applies to all companies, even if your company is a union and falls under the decree of the Quebec Construction Board. It requires employers to develop a job evaluation system in order to compare predominantly female positions with predominantly male positions.

Steps

Determining your obligations with respect to Pay Equity

We will ask you to fill out a questionnaire and will provide you, free of charge, with the date at which your company became subject to the Act; we will also inform you of the necessary steps that need to be undertaken in order to conduct your pay equity exercise.

Business Proposal/Quote

Based on the results pertaining to your obligations, the number of employees employed by your company, the complexity of your case, the type of business you operate (unions or companies that fall under specific decrees) and whether or not you will need to establish a Pay Equity Committee (companies who employ 100 employees or more), we will provide you with a detailed quote explaining the different steps that will be necessary in order for us to guide you through the process.

Necessary Information

In order to initiate the pay equity process within your company, we will ask you to provide us with a copy of your payroll (date to be determined according to the date under which your company fell under the scope of the Act) along with the following information: names of all employees, date of hire, title, number of hours worked per week, salary, bonuses and other taxable benefits, if applicable.

First meeting

We will set up a job evaluation plan specific to your company and use an in-house system in order to evaluate the various positions held by your employees. We will conduct a first meeting with the person responsible for the pay equity process in your company and, with their help, evaluate every position held in the company based on 13 specific factors. Depending on the number of positions that will need to be evaluated, a second meeting may be necessary.

At the end of this first meeting, we will evaluate with the person in charge of pay equity if all the job functions have been properly classified.

Consultant’s Work

After a first meeting with a representative from your company, the consultant will begin calculating the estimated salary gaps in order to determine if salary adjustments will need to be paid.

Second Meeting

During this meeting, the consultant will present you with the preliminary results of the estimated salary gaps. At this point, it will be important to ensure that all positions have been evaluated and that no information is missing in the compensation data that is being used. After this meeting, we will agree on the adjustments that will need to be made (if any) and, upon client approval, the consultant will prepare the appropriate postings and documents required by the law.

Adjustment Calculations

If adjustments need to be made, the consultant will use the grid established by the Government of Quebec in order to take into account any accrued interest, if any, as well as any additional compensation, and will submit it to the client for approval.

At this stage, we suggest to inform employees who will be receiving salary adjustments before putting up the required posting(s).

Postings

The consultant will prepare the notices and postings required by the law (the number of postings may vary according to the size of your business) and will send them to you so that you can put them up at your location in a place that is prominent and visible to all employees.

Company registration on DEMES or modification of data

Once a year, all companies must produce a report on pay equity (“Annual Declaration in respect of pay equity”, referred to as “DEMES” – “Déclaration de l’employeur en matière d’équité salariale”). The consultant can produce it for you if s/he is given access to your company’s codes (Quebec Enterprise Number and clicSÉQUR Access Code). We will register your company online and provide you with a confirmation copy of your declaration from DEMES’ Website.

Transmission of files

The consultant will provide you with a complete record of your pay equity (electronic and paper files). The paper file must be kept and stored for possible audits by the Commission des normes du travail.

Evaluation of Pay Equity Maintenance

All businesses must conduct a pay equity maintenance process every 5 years. Libera HR will provide you with an electronic file that allows you to maintain the expertise internally and contains a table that can be used for your pay equity maintenance.

Representation of your company for requests from the Pay Equity Commission or employee complaints

If an employee or ex-employee files a complaint with the Pay Equity Commission, Libera HR can represent you during the process. We can also communicate with the Commission on your behalf in order to resolve the complaint or answer questions that the Commission may have.