Last verified: October 21, 2026
New federal equal pay rules took effect on October 20, 2026. A federally regulated employer generally cannot pay a part-time, temporary, casual or seasonal employee less simply because of that employment status when the worker is doing substantially the same work as a comparable employee.
The rule is narrower than a nationwide equal-pay law. It applies under Part III of the Canada Labour Code, so provincial employment standards still govern most Canadian workers. It also allows differences produced by valid systems such as seniority, merit and productivity.
The practical change is a new wage-review process. An affected employee can make a written request, the employer has 90 days to respond, and any required increase is backed up to the date of the request.
Who is covered by the federal equal pay rules
The rules apply to employees in federally regulated workplaces. The Government of Canada’s official industry list includes banks, airlines and airports, telecommunications, interprovincial or international trucking and railways, postal and courier services, ports, pipelines that cross borders, most federal Crown corporations and several other sectors.
They do not apply to every worker in those broad fields automatically. The employer and work must fall under federal jurisdiction. The federal public service is not covered by Part III of the Code, and workers under provincial or territorial jurisdiction must use the rules where they work.
The Labour Program’s equal-treatment guidance says “employee” includes an intern but not a student intern for these provisions.
Five conditions make wage rates comparable
Different job titles are not decisive. The federal test looks at the work and the conditions. The equal-treatment requirement applies when both employees:
- work in the same industrial establishment;
- perform substantially the same kind of work;
- use substantially the same skill, effort and responsibility;
- work under similar working conditions; and
- are paid using the same type of rate, such as an hourly rate, mileage rate, piece rate, per-load rate or commission rate.
For this rule, worksites of the same employer can form one industrial establishment when they are in the same Employment Insurance economic region. Small differences in duties do not necessarily defeat a comparison, but the facts matter. A trainee doing meaningfully different work or carrying fewer responsibilities may not be comparable.
Employment status includes full-time versus part-time and permanent versus temporary arrangements. Temporary work can include fixed-term, casual, seasonal and on-call work.
A lower rate can still be lawful for a valid reason
The rule does not require every comparable worker to receive one identical rate in all circumstances. The supporting regulations allow differences caused by an established system based on:
- seniority;
- merit;
- the quantity or quality of production;
- maintaining a prior wage after reclassification or demotion;
- recruiting or retaining workers during a labour shortage;
- geographic differences; or
- travel status.
The system must apply to all comparable employees, and its details must be communicated in writing or be available for employees to examine. An employer cannot lower another employee’s wage merely to comply with the equal-treatment rule.
Collective agreements already in force on October 20 can preserve conflicting wage provisions for up to two years. That transition can materially change a unionized worker’s immediate result.
How the 90-day wage review works
An employee who believes employment status explains a lower wage can ask the employer in writing to review the rate. The employer must complete the review within 90 days and provide a written response that either confirms an increase or explains why the existing rate complies.
If the employer raises the rate to comply, the Canada Labour Code provisions require the employer to pay the difference from the date the employee made the request until the higher rate starts. The back pay does not automatically run to October 20 if the request came later.
For example, suppose a part-time bank employee earns $25 an hour while a comparable full-time employee earns $28. If the employer finds that the $3 difference is based only on employment status, a worker averaging 20 hours a week would have a calculated difference of $60 a week. The actual amount owed begins with the written request and depends on hours worked before the corrected rate starts.
Keep the request, pay stubs, job descriptions, schedules and written wage policies. The Code prohibits dismissal, suspension, layoff, demotion or discipline because an employee requested a wage review. It also bars an employer from using the request against the worker in a promotion or training decision.
A wage complaint generally cannot proceed until the employer responds or the 90-day review period expires. The Government of Canada says a monetary complaint must usually be filed within six months of the last day the employer was required to pay. Its complaint timeline page explains the categories and deadlines. Reprisal complaints go to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Temporary-help agencies face additional restrictions
The new temporary-help agency rules apply when the agency is the real employer and falls under federal labour standards. A covered agency cannot charge a person to become its employee, charge for an assignment, deduct a job-preparation fee or charge an employee for taking a job with a client.
If an employee paid a prohibited fee, the agency must repay an equal amount. A current or former employee can file a monetary complaint with the Labour Program to recover it if the employment relationship existed when the fee was paid.
A covered agency also cannot prevent an employee from accepting a direct job with a client. It may charge the client a direct-hire fee during the first six months after the worker’s first assignment, but the prohibition applies once more than six months has passed.
Agency employees gain the same wage-comparison protection. The agency cannot pay less than the client’s own comparable employee when the same-work conditions are met, subject to the permitted wage systems and other exceptions.
What to check on your next pay stub
- Confirm whether your employer is federally or provincially regulated.
- Compare rate types and actual duties, not only job titles.
- Ask what written seniority, merit or other wage system explains the difference.
- Make any wage-review request in writing and keep proof of the date.
- Do not confuse equal treatment with the wage floor. PaycheckGuru’s October minimum-wage guide explains provincial changes, while the payroll calculator can estimate how an hourly increase changes take-home pay.
Status also matters in other employment questions. The employee-versus-contractor guide explains why the real working relationship can matter more than a label, while the vacation-pay guide compares provincial rules.
Sources: Employment and Social Development Canada, Equal Treatment IPG-122 and Temporary Help Agencies IPG-123; Canada Labour Code; Canada Gazette, SOR/2026-75 and SI/2026-18. Last verified October 21, 2026. The $60 weekly example is calculated by PaycheckGuru from a $3 hourly difference and 20 weekly hours. Next review: October 20, 2028, when the maximum two-year collective-agreement transition ends, or earlier if federal guidance changes.