Equal pay for equal work has been a long-time coming, but legislation makes it now a fact of life in Ontario. (Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

Equal pay for equal work rules now in effect in Ontario

Canada’s most affluent and most influential province is continuing its efforts to level the playing field for low-wage workers.

As of Sunday, part-time, casual and seasonal employees in Ontario will be paid at the same rate as full-time workers.

The equal pay for equal work legislation takes effect three months after the province hiked the minimum wage to $14 per hour, with that rate scheduled to rise by another $1 per hour on Jan. 1, 2019.

The legislation makes is the first in North America to require equal pay for part-time employees, though there are some exceptions.

Ontario’s equal pay for equal work legislation–the first in North American–came into effect Sunday. Part-time, casual and seasonal employees now must be paid the same rate as their full-time colleagues if they perform the same work. (Fred Thornhill/Reuters)

The changes will not apply if an employer can prove the wage gap is due to seniority or merit.

As well, students younger than 18 and who work less than 28 hours a week are not covered by the new legislation.

Part-time employees now make up nearly 20 percent of the work force.

Many of those workers are women and a Statistics Canada study last year found that Canadian women earned 87 cents an hour for every dollar earned by men.

Under the new rules, temporary help agencies must now ensure that temporary employees at a client’s business are paid equally.

And the legislation forbids repercussions against anyone inquiring about their pay rate or asking other employees how much they are making.

With files from CBC, CTV, Globe and Mail, CP

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