New legislation proposed by the Ontario provincial government would require businesses to include salary information in job postings.Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
Ontario is moving to force employers to include salary ranges in job postings, and pursuing plans to become the first province to require businesses to disclose if artificial intelligence is used during a hiring process, as part of a slew of changes aimed at protecting workers.
The proposals are contained in legislation to be introduced next week by Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini. The bill would also launch consultations on whether to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of workplace sexual harassment, misconduct or violence – a practice that has been widely criticized for silencing victims.
Mr. Piccini, who announced the legislation Monday in Peterborough, Ont., said the proposals are part of the government’s “all-hands-on-deck approach” to addressing the changing nature of work and helping job seekers find stable employment.
He said it’s an “unacceptable reality” that women in Ontario typically earn an average of 87 cents for every dollar earned by men. Posting salaries publicly could help to close that pay gap, he added.
He said the disclosure could also help companies find qualified candidates. There are nearly 250,000 jobs in Ontario going unfilled every year, he noted.
“Making more information available at the start of the job search process is a win-win for everyone,” Mr. Piccini said.
“It empowers the worker, not the businesses.”
Ontario’s former Liberal government passed a previous salary disclosure provision in 2018, but that measure was shelved by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives.
That previous legislation, which would have begun by requiring salary disclosure in the public service, also barred employers from asking job candidates about their past compensation, prohibited reprisals against employees who discuss their compensation with others, and established a framework for requiring larger employers to track and report compensation gaps based on gender and other diversity characteristics.
British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have also since taken steps to force employers to post job salaries publicly.
Ontario’s new legislation is expected to first apply to jobs with salaries under $100,000.
Lai-King Hum, a Toronto employment lawyer with her own practice, Hum Law Firm, said the Ford government’s proposal doesn’t appear to go as far as the previous Liberal version, which also included an “equal pay for equal work” provision that prohibited different pay scales for people working the same jobs in full- and part-time capacities.
“Women have historically been paid less than men, and racialized people tend to be paid less than non-racialized people,” she said. “Pay transparency, if it’s going to be there, should be for all jobs.”
Opposition parties at Queen’s Park welcomed the changes, but urged the government to do more.
Toronto MPP Jill Andrew, the Ontario NDP’s critic for women’s social and economic opportunity, called the proposal a “small step” toward salary transparency. But she said in a statement that the government continues to stand by earlier legislation that caps public-sector wages, which she said targets professions that are dominated by women.
“The Ford Conservatives’ signal to Ontarians has been clear – that they have very little real interest in making sure women in Ontario are earning the same as their male peers,” she said.
Interim Ontario Liberal leader John Fraser said his party was glad to see the government propose measures to improve pay transparency, but he said the PCs have an “unreliable track record of introducing half-baked legislation that fails to meet its intended target.”
At Monday’s announcement, Mr. Piccini also addressed the government’s proposal to require employers to inform job applicants if artificial intelligence is used in a hiring process. He said AI tools and algorithms generate high volumes of personal data, and are being adopted by businesses at a rapid rate. AI systems are able to identify the age, sex, race, religion and political affiliation of an applicant, and can even evaluate social-media accounts.
“This is all deeply concerning,” Mr. Piccini said.
In explaining the proposal to launch consultations on restricting the use of non-disclosure agreements, the government said in a statement that seven in 10 workers have reported experiencing a form of harassment or violence in the workplace. It added that the rate is higher among women and gender-diverse workers.
The Ontario NDP said in a statement that it welcomes these consultations and will work with the government to stop the misuse of non-disclosure agreements.