With N.L.’s pay equity legislation seemingly on the back burner, the PC Party is demanding answers | CBC News

Newfoundland and Labrador’s gender issues critic said Tuesday the provincial government is lagging behind on its own pay equity laws, days after women’s rights advocates spoke publicly about their disappointment with official action to increase wage parity among the sexes.

Helen Conway Ottenheimer, PC MHA for Harbour Main, told CBC News the Official Opposition hasn’t heard of any movement on whether or not government has implemented any part of the pay equity legislation. 

“We know that this legislation was passed in 2022, so two years later and still no progress? That is very concerning to us,” Conway Ottenheimer said.

Non-profit workers called last week on the provincial government to follow through on its own timeline for implementing its regulations on the Pay Equity and Pay Transparency Act. Despite a promise in a March 2023 news release to finalize regulations by the end of last year, the government hasn’t yet acted on its words.

The Act requires public sector employers to prepare reports proving they pay equal salaries to all employees regardless of gender. Those reports, according to the Act, would then be reviewed by an appointed pay equity officer. The officer would then table a fulsome report on pay equity in the province to the House of Assembly.

The new law also requires any public sector job posting to include a salary range.

Conway Ottenheimer said the fact the House of Assembly and advocacy groups have been left in the dark suggests pay equity isn’t a priority for the current government.

“Whether it’s with respect to an officer being appointed, whether it’s with respect to what progress these regulations … have made, we need to know what’s happening,” she said. “And the fact that the minister has nothing to report, you know, it’s just not good enough.”

Actually enforcing the regulations, she said, is one of her party’s major questions. Specific regulations about how government will ensure employers comply with the new pay equity rules haven’t yet been released. 

“This lack of commitment to this important area is very concerning to not only these advocacy groups, but to the rest of women and gender-diverse individuals in our province,” Conway Ottenheimer said.

Last week, the St. John’s Status of Women Council and the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour spoke to CBC News about their concerns with the new law, suggesting it’s too narrow in its current form to do much good and should be broadened to include students and private sector workers.

They also worried the unfinished legislation would continue to sit on the back burner when the House of Assembly opens in November.

Pam Parsons, minister of women and gender equality, declined an interview with CBC News last week. A department spokesperson said in an email there was “nothing new to report.”

“Pay equity means that women who are working in the workforce … receive the same amount of pay as men who are working in those same positions,” Conway Ottenheimer said. “And we know right now that that does not occur.”

According to Statistics Canada, as of 2021, women make 89 cents for every dollar a man makes on average across the country. In Newfoundland and Labrador, according to a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report earlier this year, women make 87 cents to every dollar earned by a man.

“It needs to be addressed. We are falling behind the rest of the country when it comes to pay equity and that has to be given the utmost importance and priority by the government,” Conway Ottenheimer said.

“We need a minister … who has as her mandate the protection of economic security for women and gender-diverse people in our province. That is her mandate, that is her responsibility and when we see that they are not providing any information, it makes one wonder if this is important.”

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