Pay transparency laws: How disclosing salary ranges can help or hurt workers

Ontario has pitched adopting pay transparency legislation that would require employers to post jobs with salary bands. Here's how experts say it could affect the labour market.

Workers in Ontario might soon have a better sense of how much they’ll be paid for a role, but experts warn proposed legislation announced this week can have a series of knock-on effects that can both help and hinder employees and employers alike.

The Ontario government announced plans Tuesday to introduce new laws regulating employers in the province, including setting standards for the use of artificial intelligence in the hiring process.

But the highlight of the proposed law would see companies required to disclose salary bands in job postings. Ontario government figures show some 37 per cent of job postings last year included pay ranges.

Similar pay legislation was passed in Ontario by the Liberal government of the day in May 2018, but those laws were “shelved” when the Conservatives took power a few months later, says Laura Williams, managing partner at Williams HR Law LLP.

Williams is glad to see provinces pursuing pay transparency again, which she says can help job seekers be “more focused” on career opportunities that align with their goals.

“I think it does give job seekers and candidates a better understanding of how the role is valued and whether or not the compensation is set at a level that they desire for the work that they expect to perform,” she tells Global News.

Ontario is not the only province to move towards pay transparency in recent months. British Columbia first introducing legislation in March requiring salary ranges on job postings. As of Nov, 1, 2023, all B.C. employers are required to include transparent wage or salary information on publicly advertised jobs. PEI enacted similar legislation last year.

Williams notes that while these laws only apply to jobs within the respective provinces, national employers might feel the pressure to institute blanket policies across their organization to maintain equity.