Ontario Pay Equity Office: What It Does and How to Contact

Ontario’s Pay Equity Office (PEO) administers and enforces the province’s Pay Equity Act, which requires covered employers to provide equal pay for work of equal value, without discrimination based on sex. It offers information and support to employees, employers and bargaining agents, and investigates complaints; it is not a general wage-setting agency or a service that negotiates individual salaries.

What the Pay Equity Office does

The PEO is part of Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Its work centres on the Pay Equity Act: explaining the law, helping parties understand their obligations, and administering compliance and enforcement. The office provides public guidance and can investigate matters that fall within its mandate.

Pay equity is about comparing the value of different jobs within an organization, not requiring identical wages for everyone. The comparison looks at job value and compensation, rather than simply comparing a woman’s pay with a man’s pay for the same job. The Act focuses on correcting sex-based wage discrimination affecting jobs traditionally performed by women.

The PEO should not be confused with the Employment Standards Information Centre, which answers questions about minimum standards such as overtime and vacation, or with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, which adjudicates human-rights applications. Different agencies have different mandates, and a workplace issue can raise more than one kind of question.

What Ontario’s Pay Equity Act requires

In general, the Act requires covered Ontario employers to establish and maintain pay equity. This means that compensation for jobs predominantly performed by women must be at least equal to compensation for jobs of equal or comparable value predominantly performed by men, when the required comparisons are available. The law applies to public-sector employers and many private-sector employers, but the specific requirements depend on the employer and workplace circumstances.

Employers assess jobs using factors such as skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. They determine which job classes are predominantly female or male, compare job values and compensation under a permitted method, and address any identified pay-equity gaps. A job class generally groups positions with similar duties and compensation arrangements; a job title alone does not determine how a role is classified.

Pay equity is not the same as equal pay for equal work. Equal-pay rules generally concern people doing substantially the same work, while pay equity compares different kinds of work that may be of equal value. It is also distinct from a general claim that someone is underpaid relative to market rates: the Act addresses sex-based undervaluation, not every difference in wages.

Who can ask for help

Employees, employers, unions and other bargaining agents may seek information from the office. An employee does not need to be a pay-equity specialist to raise a concern, though it can help to describe the job, the workplace and the issue as clearly as possible. The PEO’s materials can also help an employer understand its duties and the process for maintaining pay equity.

Whether a particular employer is covered, which comparison method applies, and what action is required can depend on details such as sector, size, job classes and workplace history. Do not assume that a business is exempt simply because it is small, or that a pay difference automatically proves a violation. The office’s current guidance or direct contact is the appropriate source for a fact-specific question.

How to contact the office or raise a concern

For current contact details, forms and guidance, use the Ontario government’s official Pay Equity Office pages at ontario.ca. Government contact information and service channels can change, so check the official page rather than relying on an old phone number, mailing address or third-party directory.

Before contacting the office, collect relevant information where available. You do not need to resolve the legal question yourself; a concise account helps the office understand what you are asking.

• The employer’s name, location and sector, and whether you are an employee, employer or bargaining-agent representative.
• Your job title and a description of the actual duties, responsibilities and working conditions.
• Any pay-equity plan, job-evaluation material, compensation information or written explanation you have received.
• A short timeline of what happened and the specific guidance or action you are seeking.

Keep copies of relevant communications and documents. Avoid sharing sensitive personal information unless the office requests it through an appropriate channel. If your concern involves more than pay equity—for example, unpaid wages, reprisal or discrimination under another law—ask which organization handles each part rather than assuming the PEO covers every issue.

What happens in a pay-equity review

The general process is not simply an individual wage complaint followed by an automatic raise. Pay equity is normally assessed across job classes and compensation systems. An employer may use job information and a prescribed comparison approach to identify whether predominantly female job classes are receiving compensation below that of comparable male job classes, then determine how to correct and maintain equity.

If parties disagree about the work performed, job classification, evaluation or comparison, those details may matter. The PEO can provide information about the Act and may investigate matters within its jurisdiction. The result and available next steps depend on the evidence and the applicable process; contacting the office does not guarantee a particular finding or payment.

A useful practical distinction is between a pay-equity gap and an individual payroll error. If a payslip is missing hours or an agreed wage, that may be an employment-standards issue. If a job class predominantly held by women may be undervalued compared with work of equal value, that is more directly a pay-equity question. Some circumstances may involve both.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Ontario Pay Equity Office?
The PEO is the Ontario government office responsible for administering and enforcing the Pay Equity Act. It provides information and handles compliance work within that law’s scope.

How do I contact the Ontario Pay Equity Office?
Use the current contact page and service information on the official Ontario government website at ontario.ca. Check there for the correct forms and contact channels.

Can I file a pay-equity complaint with the office?
The office handles pay-equity concerns within its mandate and can explain the applicable process. Describe the employer, job and concern, then follow the current instructions on its official site or from its staff.

Does pay equity mean everyone must earn the same wage?
No. It concerns equal compensation for work of equal value under the Act, not identical pay for all employees or roles. Differences can be lawful for reasons unrelated to sex-based undervaluation.

Is pay equity the same as equal pay for equal work?
No. Equal-pay requirements generally compare substantially similar work; pay equity compares different jobs of equal or comparable value, with attention to the Act’s requirements for predominantly female job classes.

Does the office handle minimum-wage or unpaid-overtime complaints?
Those issues are generally handled through Ontario’s employment-standards services, not the PEO’s pay-equity mandate. Check the Ontario government’s employment-standards information for the correct route.

Finding reliable, current information

Start with Ontario’s official Pay Equity Office pages for legislation-related guidance, publications and contact details. Use the office when the central question is whether an employer has met pay-equity obligations. For a general employment-standards question, contact the relevant Ontario service; for a human-rights concern outside the PEO’s role, consult the appropriate human-rights body. Identifying the issue correctly can save time and help you direct your documents and questions to the organization equipped to address them.

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