Pay Transparency Act

The Pay Transparency Act came into law in BC on May 11, 2023. The Act aims to promote equal pay for equal work and to provide greater transparency and fairness when it comes to wages. Under this Act, employers must follow 4 primary requirements:

Expected pay ranges must be included on all public job postings
Employers cannot ask job applicants about their pay history with previous employers
An employee cannot be disciplined for asking questions about their pay, discussing their pay with other employees or job applicants, or asking to see their employer’s pay transparency report
A Pay Transparency Report must be posted by the employer by November 1st of each year.

Knappett Projects Inc. latest Pay Transparency Report can be found here.

While the report implies that a gender pay gap is present, the results are shaped by the composition of our workforce rather than differences in pay for employees performing the same work. Our workforce reflects the broader construction industry’s demographics, where men make up much of the workforce, particularly in supervisory roles. Pay transparency reporting does not consider the distribution of employees across different positions nor levels of responsibility.

Most of our employees are covered by a collective agreement where wage rates are established through the collective bargaining process. Employees performing the same job classification are paid according to the negotiated wage scale, regardless of gender. For employees who are not covered by a collective agreement (i.e. office staff), compensation is determined using objective factors such as the responsibilities of the role, qualifications, skills, experience, and performance.

We are committed to fair and equitable compensation practices and to providing equal opportunities for recruitment, development, and advancement. We continue to support initiatives that encourage greater workforce diversity and increased representation across all areas of our organization.