An update on Pay Equity at the University of Waterloo

Monday, August 14, 2017

Ontario’s Pay Equity Office recently notified the University that it will be reviewing our compensation practices for compliance with the Pay Equity Act, through their Monitoring Program. The Act requires the University to follow compensation practices that ensure employees in female job classes are paid at least as much as employees in male job classes of comparable value. Please refer to the Notice of Requirement to Achieve and Maintain Pay Equity.

The University issued its first plans for compliance on January 1, 1990 and has been committed to meeting pay equity requirements since the Act’s inception. With staff positions assigned to job grades through a job evaluation system, where the job is evaluated, not the person, gender does not factor in to pay decisions. A faculty pay equity review was recently conducted to ensure compliance; the results were communicated in August 2016 (for more information, please see the Daily Bulletin from August 19, 2016 entitled A step forward for equity).

Throughout the pay equity review, updates to the community will be provided as available. In the meantime, employees with questions or concerns should contact Lee Hornberger, Director, Total Compensation at ext. 39188.