Government of Canada Settles Long-Standing Human Rights Complaint With Survey Employees

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 13, 2016) - Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Government of Canada believes that pay equity is a fundamental human right and that every working Canadian woman should be compensated in an equitable manner.

Today, the Government of Canada announced that it has settled a long-standing human rights complaint affecting up to 25,000 current and former employees who worked at Statistical Survey Operations from 1985 to 2013. The employees interviewed people and collected data used by Statistics Canada. Most of the employees were women, many of whom worked part-time.

As a result of the settlement, Statistics Canada will begin to make payments to eligible employees in early 2017.

Quotes

"The Government has made a commitment towards gender equality, and while there is still a lot of work to do, we are making concrete progress towards achieving pay equity. As Canada's largest employer, the federal government should lead by example."

The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board

"Statistics Canada is committed to implementing the terms of the settlement. It is establishing a dedicated team of people who will use all the tools at their disposal to reach eligible employees and ensure they are paid in a timely way."

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

In 1999, the Government of Canada settled a large pay equity complaint with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) involving employees occupying positions in the female predominant Clerical and Regulatory (CR) occupational group, among other groups, in the core public administration.

In 2002, a human rights complaint was launched against Treasury Board and seven separate agencies, including Statistical Survey Operations (SSO), for failing to extend the pay equity settlement to employees of these separate agencies. Six of the seven agencies negotiated settlements with the complainant in 2013.

In April 2016, the PSAC, SSO and Treasury Board reached an agreement to settle the long-standing human rights complaint.

Funding for the settlement was recently approved by the Treasury Board. Once Parliament has approved the funds, Statistics Canada will begin implementing the settlement.

Eligible employees will receive a payment averaging between $1,500 and $2,000.

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