Federal equal-pay and temp-agency wage rules get detailed definitions and new record-keeping obligations

New regulatory provisions flesh out the equal-treatment wage rules in the Canada Labour Code by defining key terms such as full-time, part-time, permanent, and temporary employee, and by specifying how to determine which industrial establishment an employee belongs to — including rules for remote workers and transportation workers. Employers covered by the Code must now be able to justify any wage difference between employees doing comparable work by reference to a documented "system," and that system must be communicated to employees in writing or be readily available for their review. Parallel rules apply to temporary help agencies and their clients, covering assignment workers in the same way. On the record-keeping side, employers must now maintain records of any wage-differential system used, any written review requests from employees and responses to them, and — for temp agencies — a log of each client and assignment dates. The label "Equal wages" in Schedule II has been renamed "Equal treatment," "Sick leave" has become "Medical leave," and a new "Temporary help agencies" entry has been added.

New Code provisions added to federal workplace penalty schedule, expanding what violations can trigger administrative fines

The schedule listing which Canada Labour Code provisions can result in administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) has been expanded. New entries cover provisions related to sections 182.1, 182.2, 182.3, 203.1, 203.2, 203.3, and 24(2) of the Code, each assigned a violation type (A, B, or C) that determines the maximum fine amount. Federally regulated employers are now exposed to AMPs for non-compliance with these additional Code obligations. Compliance teams should review which of these newly listed provisions apply to their operations and confirm they have practices in place to meet those requirements. No existing penalty items were removed — this is a purely additive expansion of enforcement coverage.