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Canada PSAC
Canada has progressive pay equity legislation and in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec the legislation provides for mandatory job evaluation and detailed guidance on how job evaluation studies are to be conducted, including provision for pay adjustments to be made within specific time frames. Most successful cases have taken place at provincial level. The policy of the Public Services Alliance of Canada (PSAC) stresses the need to incorporate the principle of equal pay for work of equal value into union activities in the areas of collective bargaining and to end discriminatory wage rates. PSAC have given pay equity a high profile and have been involved in settling many cases with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, one of which was for $3.3 billion and the result of a sixteen-year battle won by PSAC against the federal government. The case was settled in 2000 and compensated over 230,000 employees with over $3.3 billion. The case began in 1983 when the PSAC lodged a complaint of discrimination with the Canadian Human Rights Commission for clerical workers. In 1985 a four-year joint study was carried out between the Treasury Board, PSAC and other federal unions. This showed a wage gap between men and women with respect to work of equal value. After a lack of action the PSAC filed another complaint and in 1991 a tribunal was appointed to the case that resulted in six years of hearings. An attempt to settle for $1.3 billion was rejected by the PSAC in 1997. In 1999 the federal government agreed to pay from $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion in compensation and employees were entitled to back pay from 1985. Individual settlements ranged from $500 to $60,000.
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