As part of our examination and guide to the changes flowing from the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act, we continue our series with this next instalment on the provisions relating to pay secrecy and job advertisements. Our first article looked at fixed term contracts and flexible work.
Policy rationale: The Government considers that workers who want to discuss pay equity at work should not be prohibited by their employment contracts from doing so. The Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for the Arts said that the legislation will bring transparency to workplaces and would protect workers by saying "if you want to tell someone how much you are paid, that's up to you." The recent changes are seen as a means to promoting gender-based pay equity by assisting women to confirm they are not being paid less than male employees for doing the same job.
Operative provisions: The Amending Act protects employees who disclose (or not disclose) their own remuneration and any related terms and conditions of their employment to any other person, or who ask other employees (whether or not they work for the same employer) about their remuneration and other related terms and conditions of their employment. An employer cannot take adverse action against an employee for exercising their workplace right to ask these questions or make these disclosures.
It is important to note that the new provisions will not compel an employee to...
THE BC NDP said on Sunday that the interim leader of the BC Conservatives, Lorne Doerkson, falsely claimed that it has “raised taxes against people that are least able to afford it. That has occur...