Canada's federal Pay Equity Act (S.C. 2018, c. 27, s. 416), in force since August 2021, applies to federally regulated employers with 10 or more employees. Unlike provincial pay transparency laws focused on salary disclosure in job ads, the federal regime focuses on pay equity — ensuring equal pay for work of equal value across all federally regulated workplaces.
Who is a federally regulated employer?
The federal Pay Equity Act applies to employers under federal jurisdiction, including:
- Federal government departments and agencies
- Banks and trust companies
- Telecommunications and broadcasting companies
- Airlines and interprovincial transportation
- Crown corporations
- Canada Post
Most private sector employers in Canada are provincially regulated and fall under their province's laws (see BC, Ontario, PEI guides). The federal Act applies specifically to the sectors above.
Key federal pay equity requirements
- Pay equity plan: All covered employers must establish a pay equity plan identifying job classes, valuing them using gender-neutral criteria, and comparing compensation across female-predominant and male-predominant job classes
- Pay equity committee: Employers with 100+ employees must establish a joint employer-employee pay equity committee
- Posting: Pay equity plans must be posted in the workplace
- Updates: Plans must be updated at least every five years
Federal Canada Labour Code — job posting
Separate from the Pay Equity Act, the Canada Labour Code prohibits federally regulated employers from seeking salary history during hiring (since 2021) and requires that wage information be provided to employees on request. While not a strict "post the range" requirement, these provisions reinforce pay transparency expectations.
Employer checklist for federal employers
- ✓ Establish a pay equity plan (or update if existing)
- ✓ If 100+ employees: establish a pay equity committee
- ✓ Post the plan in the workplace
- ✓ Schedule five-year plan reviews
- ✓ Remove salary history inquiries from hiring processes
- ✓ Apply provincial law for posting requirements in the province where roles are located
How RoleComply helps federally regulated employers
RoleComply checks job postings for provincial pay transparency compliance (the posting-level requirements) and tracks changes to both federal and provincial pay equity legislation. For federally regulated employers operating across multiple provinces, RoleComply applies the relevant provincial posting requirements alongside federal obligations.
What employers in federally regulated employers across Canada must do
The Pay Equity Commissioner of Canada is the authoritative source for compliance requirements in this jurisdiction. Regardless of the specific status of local legislation, employers in federally regulated employers across Canada should treat pay range disclosure as a baseline requirement today — the direction of travel is clear, and proactive employers are already ahead.
Audit all job postings. Pull every active role from your careers page, LinkedIn, Indeed, and any job boards or agencies posting on your behalf. Verify each posting includes a wage or salary range. Where ranges are missing, add them. Where ranges exist but are placeholder-wide, replace them with real, defensible figures connected to your compensation structure.
Build formal pay bands. The range you post must reflect what you would actually pay. This requires a compensation framework: roles mapped to levels, benchmarked externally, with documented criteria for where within a band an individual employee sits. Without this, you cannot post credible ranges consistently.
Remove salary history questions. Pay transparency legislation consistently prohibits asking candidates about their current or previous salary. Review your application forms, recruiter screening scripts, and any pre-employment questionnaires to ensure salary history questions have been removed entirely.
The business case for going further
Employers who post salary ranges report better application quality, faster time-to-fill, and stronger employer brand scores. Candidates self-select based on realistic expectations, offer acceptance rates improve, and internal pay equity conversations become easier when compensation is documented and transparent. The compliance obligation is the floor — the strategic opportunity is considerably higher.
Read our pay transparency fundamentals guide for the full picture, or see our remote work compliance guide for managing obligations across multiple Canadian provinces.
