valuation des emplois

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Equal pay for work of equal value in Canada- the
proactive model
Marie-Thérèse Chicha Professor School of
Industrial Relations Université de Montréal Det
nationale ligelonsnetvaerk Copenhagen September
1, 2008
E-mail marie-therese.chicha_at_umontreal.ca
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• OUTLINE
• PAY GAP AND PAY DISCRIMINATION
• THE PROACTIVE APPROACH THE QUÉBEC PAY EQUITY ACT
• THE PAY EQUITY PROGRAM
• THE PAY EQUITY COMMITTEE
• THE PAY EQUITY COMMISSION
• RESULTS OF PAY EQUITY
• THE QUÉBEC PAY EQUITY ACT COMPARED WITH SOME
  EUROPEAN COUNTRIES LEGISLATIONS.

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• PAY GAP
• AND
• PAY DISCRIMINATION

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• Equal pay for work of equal value is a
  fundamental right (C100) ratified by 90 of ILO
  member countries.
• Despite this wide recognition, implementation of
  this right seems to be very limited due to many
  reasons
• interpretation of the pay gap
• Implementaion of pay equity
• Resistance of employers
• Lack of political will

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Pay gap and pay discrimination
ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS Education,experience,etc.

PAY DISCRIMINATION Occupational segregation,
stereotypes , etc.

• Women average wage

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Men average wage
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Economic characteristics responsible for part of
the total gender pay gap

• Education
• Experience on the labour market
• Seniority with same employer
• Underrepresentation of women in high level jobs
• Economic sector
• Size of organizations
• What type of policies are appropriate?

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Pay Discrimination responsible for another Part
of the total pay gap (targeted by ILO Convention
100)

• Women earn a lower salary than men doing the same
  work
• Jobs where women predominate are less paid than
  jobs of equal value where men predominate

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Causes of discrimination in pay

• Occupational segregation
• Prejudices
• Stereotypes
• Traditionnal job evaluation methods
• Discrimination in wage systems benefits,
  premiums, etc.
• A specific policy to deal with this
  discrimination Pay equity (Equal pay)

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• THE PROACTIVE APPROACH
• QUÉBEC PAY EQUITY ACT

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• Canada is a federation comprised of 10 provinces
  
• Labour law as well as human rights legislation
  are of federal and provincial jurisdiction
• Newfoundland
• Prince Edward Island
• Nova Scotia
• New Brunswick
• Québec
• Ontario
• Manitoba
• Saskatchewan
• Alberta
• British Columbia
• CANADA for public service as well as federal
  employers (banks, communication, part of
  transportation) and State owned corporations.

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• The Québec Pay Equity Act.
• The Québec Pay Equity Act came into effect on
  November 21, 1997.
• Formerly complaint based model
• Time required and complexity of a pay equity case
  
• Number of cases settled was extremely small
• Coalition requested the adoption of a proactive
  pay equity model.

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• Features of the Québec Pay Equity Act.
• Covers all employers with 10 or more employees
• Employers have to check if there is any wage
  discrimination towards predominantly female jobs
• If there is any, they must adjust wages within a
  given timeframe
• Two main components
• the pay equity program
• the pay equity committee

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• THE PAY EQUITY PROGRAM

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• The pay equity program must be developed and
  applied in each enterprise (50 or more employees)
  .

(2) developing evaluation method and tools ,

• identifying predominantly
• female or male jobs

(3) Measuring job values and estimating pay
gaps between jobs of equal value
Posting results of 1 and 2
Posting results of 1 to 4
(4) determining pay adjustments schedule.
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Identifying predominantly female or male jobs

• Some criteria that may be used
• 60 of women or men in a job
• Occupational stereotypes
• Predominance is important because each
  additional of women in a given occupation leads
  to a decrease in relative wage.
• Clear link between predominance and discrimination

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Job evaluation method

• Four evaluation factors
• Skills
• Responsibilities
• Efforts
• Working conditions

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Job evaluation method

• The evaluation factors must be defined and
  applied without gender bias
• must take into account invisible aspects of
  women work

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Job evaluation method

• Overlooked or invisible aspects of some jobs
  where women predominate
• Skills interpersonal skills social workers,
  nurses, salespersons, teachers
• Responsibilities responsibilities for people
  early childhood educators, teachers, nurses,

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Job evaluation method

• Efforts emotional effort special education
  teacher, social worker, customer service agent.
• Working conditions frequent interruptions
  (secretaries), variable work schedules (customer
  service), increased risk of sexual harassment due
  to night work (cleaners)

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Measuring job values and estimating pay gaps
between jobs of equal value

• Collect data on the jobs to be evaluated through
  questionnaires
• Establish the value of each job
• Compare wages between jobs of equal value
• During all this process gender bias and
  discrimination can occur. Some simple tests have
  been devised to help avoid such outcomes (see ILO
  Guide on job evaluation without gender bias
  forthcoming end of september).

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• Employers have a maximum of 4 years to develop
  the plan (Unduly long) - 1997- 2001
• Employers had a maximum of 4 more years to
  adjust wages - 2001- 2005

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• THE PAY EQUITY COMMITTEE

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• Enterprises with 100 or more employees must set a
  pay equity committee,
• Committee must be made up of at least 2/3
  employee representatives
• At least ½ of them must be women

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Enterprises with 100 or more employees must set a
pay equity committee,
Minimum 3 members
1W
1W or M
1/3 employer representatives
2/3employees representatives
1W or M
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• The committee is responsible for establishing the
  pay equity program
• The employer is required by law to provide to
  committee members
• training
• required information

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• THE PAY EQUITY COMMISSION

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• The Pay Equity Commission
• Headed by three Commissioners, one President and
  two members, who
• Are named by the government after consultation
  with three groups of partners
• employers,
• trade unions and
• womens associations
• It is highly specialized, since it deals only
  with wage discrimination towards predominantly
  female jobs.

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• Duties and functions
• Overseeing the establishment and maintenance of
  pay equity
• No compulsory reports from employers,
• difficult to know to what extent employers had
  really respected the Act,
• Auditing program started in 2005-2006.
• Power to investigate
• The Pay Equity Commission can institute penal
  proceedings
• The amount of the fine may vary between 1000 and
  25000 .

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• Research, information and training
• a direct information services by phone or by
  e-mail that answers questions related to the Act
• publication of guidelines
• Offers free training session which may be
  attended, among others, by pay equity committee
  members
• 700 training sessions have been given that
  reached over 11000 persons.
• It helps to reduce administrative costs for
  employers

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• RESULTS OF THE PAY
• EQUITY ACT

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• Results of the Pay equity Act
• Approximately 43800 / 222000 enterprises are
  covered by the Act.
• The number of enterprises having from 1 to 9
  employees is quite large and approximates 178200
• Surveys have been realized on the implementation
  of pay equity
• In 2006, it was estimated that 47 enterprises
  had complied with all the requirements of the
  Act, and 15 were still in the process of
  realizing the exercise.
• So almost 2/3 of the enterprises covered by the
  Act had complied completely or where in the
  process of doing so.

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• Rate of increase in wages 6.5 on average
• 6.8 in enterprises with 10 to 49 employees,
• 5.9 in enterprises with 50 to 99 employees
• 6.4 in enterprises with 100 employees or more.

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• The total of wage adjustments amounted to less
  than 1 of the wage bill for a large majority of
  enterprises.
• Among the occupations that received the highest
  adjustments
• receptionists 11.1
• laboratory technicians 9.9
• administrative clerks 9.4
• telephonists 8.6
• customer services workers 8.5
• So the burden for employers is limited, but the
  gains for women workers who are discriminated are
  significant

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• Even if the results are more limited than one
  would have expected, the process is still
  developing
• Compared to the complaint based model, the
  proactive model shows much better results
• Wage adjustments are instituted on a much wider
  scale
• They are reached within a significantly shorter
  time
• They are less costly for an employer no
  litigation costs or retroactivity
• It avoids conflicts in the workplace
• Employers may reap many benefits in the long run
  improved human resources practices

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• Gains have been important up to now
• Mentalities have changed
• Pay equity has become in Québec a principle that
  is widely supported by public opinion and in
  workplaces

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• A TYPOLOGY OF PAY EQUITY LEGISLATIONS
• THE QUÉBEC PAY EQUITY ACT COMPARED WITH SOME
  EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PAY EQUITY APPROACHES.

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• Basic model of pay equity
• Identify gender dominated jobs
• Evaluate these jobs with a non discriminatory
  method
• Compare jobs of equal value and measure pay gaps
• Adjust pay in order to erase the gaps

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• Typology based on this basic model and applied to
  six countries
• Sweden,
• Canada,
• United Kingdom,
• Nederland,
• France,
• Switzerland
• Countries selected because are concerned with the
  problem of pay discrimination and have taken
  measures to deal with it,

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• Model 1. Structured approach including the four
  steps Sweden, Canada (Ontario, Québec)
• Compulsory
• Requires development of non discriminatory JEMs
• Evaluation of gender dominated jobs
• Measure of wage gaps between jobs of equal value
• Adjustments of wages in order to eliminate the
  gap within a given period of time

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• Model 2. Semi-structured approach based on equal
  opportunities UK, Nederland
• Voluntary
• Examination of components of pay according to
  gender .
• Development of non discriminatory Job evaluation
  methods
• Code of Practice on Equal Pay, Equal Pay Review
• Checklist on Equal Pay
• No precise guidelines on estimating wage gaps
• Or on eliminating wage gaps.

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• Model 3. Approach based on limited aspects of
  equal opportunities France, Switzerland
• France
• Compulsory annual report on gender aspects in
  the workplace to be used to develop equality
  plans through collective bargaining
• 3 indicators must be examined in relation to
  equal pay
• Wage distribution by gender
• Average monthly salary by gender
• Number of women in the 10 highest paid
  occupations

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• Switzerland
• Compulsory for contractors of the Swiss
  Confederation
• In each workplace, employer must do a regression
  analysis of wages according to gender, taking
  into account qualifications and professional
  position .
• If there is a residual gap that is significantly
  higher than 5 there may be wage discrimination .
  Further analysis is required leading eventually
  to some corrective measures.
• In both countries
• No requirement to develop non discriminatory JEMs
• No precise guidelines on estimating wage gaps
• Or on eliminating wage gaps.

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• Results. Data often hard to obtain or to
  interpret
• Model 1
• Sweden . Different investigations show that
  percentage of firms that have made PE adjustments
  varies from 11 to 48. (2001-2005)
• Québec .
• Model 2
• UK. 11 have done an EPR equal work or work of
  equal value Smalller have identified a wage
  gap. How many have erased the wage gap?
• Nederland . no available data.

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• Model 3.
• France.
• Only 15 of collective agreements have equality
  plans , not directed necessarily to wage
  questions and have examined one or the other of
  the 3 wage indicators.
• Big resistance from employer to consider
  compensation in equality plans
• No PE adjustments.

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• Switzerland
• Pilot study on 5 enterprises. 2 only with a wage
  gap significantly higher than 5
• Measures planned
• Correct some individual cases where wage gap is
  particularly important
• include corrections of inequities in job
  classifications in next round of collective
  bargaining
• Encourage women in some departments to undertake
  training.
• Etc.

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• We observe therefore an important ambiguity and a
  wide heterogeneity in methods and outcomes
• Programs that do not deal with the actual causes
  of pay discrimination (M3)
• Programs that have imprecise goals (M2) or goals
  unrelated to the principle of equal pay for work
  of equal value( M3)
• And in most cases, extremely low levels of
  compliance (M2 and M3)

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• Conclusion
• Pay equity is one of the most important
  dimensions of gender equality
• To attain this goal we need
• A clear understanding of the problem and of its
  solution
• An appropriate methodological approach
• The willingness to go through the whole process
• A good perception of the long run benefits
• A strong political will towards the goal of
  equality and partnership of all the stakeholders.