As a strict requirement of pay equity legislation, Employers are required to provide for pay equity for female job classes by objectively valuing those job classes, and comparing female and male job classes on the basis of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. This is to be done by applying gender neutral criteria.
Jurisprudence for gender neutral job evaluation was established in the Ontario Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal case involving the Ontario Nurses’ Association v. Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, 1992 CanLII 4705.
The Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal established four tests to determine whether a job evaluation tool is gender neutral:
- Can the job evaluation tool determine the value of work performed using the required factors of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions?
- Are the sub-factors used in the job evaluation tool free of gender bias?
- Are the levels or their equivalent, if used, free of gender bias?
- Is the composite of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions decided in such a way that it gives value to all four factors, and is the point weighting free of gender bias?
Selecting a gender neutral job evaluation system ensures that your organization complies with Pay Equity Legislation, and supports a fair and objective process for valuing job classes.
HCI Consulting has developed its own gender neutral Job Evaluation system with Ontario Pay Equity in mind. Click here for more information about the HCI Job Evaluation System.