The BC NDP government has introduced two changes to employment law in this session of the legislature. We have a new statutory holiday and pay transparency obligations coming our way. We are also following a private member’s bill on the subject of non-disclosure agreements.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is now a holiday in BC under the BC Employment Standards Act. It will occur on September 30 each year. This change aligns BC with the federal government enactment of this statutory holiday under the Canada Labour Code in 2021.
The BC government has also introduced a bill that will bring pay transparency legislation to BC. The stated goal of this new legislation is to help close the gender pay gap, including the gender gap for Indigenous, racialized and newcomer women.
Under this new law, provincially regulated employers in BC will be required to include the salary or wage, or the salary or wage range, in job advertisements and will be prohibited from asking prospective employees about compensation history unless that information is public. Also, an employer will no longer be able to enforce a requirement that employees not disclose their compensation to other employees or job applicants.
These obligations will come into effect as of November 1, 2023, assuming the bill is passed into law. It is scheduled for second reading later in March 2023.
There will also be a reporting requirement on...
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