Employment Equity Regulations (SOR/96-470)

Workforce Analysis

• 6 (1) Based on the information collected under sections 3 to 5, and on relevant information contained in any other employment records maintained by the employer, the employer shall conduct an analysis of its workforce in order to

  • (a) determine the following for each occupational group of the employer’s workforce, namely,

    • (i) the number of persons who are Aboriginal peoples,

    • (ii) the number of persons who are persons with disabilities,

    • (iii) the number of persons who are members of visible minorities, and

    • (iv) the number of women; and

  • (b) determine the degree of underrepresentation of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) by comparing the representation of each designated group in each occupational group of the employer’s workforce to their representation in each occupational group in whichever of the following is the most appropriate as a basis of comparison, namely,

    • (i) the Canadian workforce as a whole, or

    • (ii) those segments of the Canadian workforce that are identifiable by qualification, eligibility or geography, and from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees.

• (2) In making a determination under paragraph (1)(b), the employer shall use the labour market information made available by the Minister under section 42(3) of the Act, or information from other sources that is determined by the Minister to be relevant labour market information, in order to determine the representation, in the geographic area or areas from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees, of workers who are members of designated groups and who are qualified or eligible for the jobs within each occupational group of the employer’s workforce.

• (3) An employer who has already conducted an analysis of all or part of its workforce before the coming into force of these Regulations is not required to conduct another analysis of all or that part of its workforce, if

  • (a) the results of the previous analysis are up to date as a result of periodic revisions that have taken into account the updating of the workforce survey results in accordance with section 5; and

  • (b) the results of the previous analysis are likely to be the same as the results that would be achieved by an analysis undertaken pursuant to subsections (1) and (2).

• (4) Where an employer replaces its employment equity plan with a new plan, the employer is not required to conduct a new workforce analysis if the results of the previous analysis have been kept up to date by means of periodic revisions that have taken into account the updating of the workforce survey results in accordance with section 5.

7 The employer shall prepare a summary of the results of its workforce analysis for use in the preparation of its employment equity plan.

Review of Employment Systems, Policies and Practices

8 Where, based on the workforce analysis conducted pursuant to section 6, underrepresentation of persons in designated groups has been identified in any occupational group of the employer’s workforce, the employer shall conduct a review of its employment systems, policies and practices in order to determine whether any of those employment systems, policies and practices is an employment barrier against persons in designated groups.

• 9 (1) Subject to section 10, for the purposes of making a determination referred to in section 8, the employer shall, in relation to each occupational group in which underrepresentation referred to in section 8 has been identified, review its employment systems, policies and practices with respect to

  • (a) the recruitment, selection and hiring of employees;

  • (b) the development and training of employees;

  • (c) the promotion of employees;

  • (d) the retention and termination of employees; and

  • (e) the reasonable accommodation of the special needs of members of designated groups.

• (2) Where, following a review under subsection (1), new employment systems, policies or practices relating to the matters referred to in that subsection are implemented by the employer, the employer shall also review the new employment systems, policies or practices with respect to those matters.

10 An employer who, before the coming into force of these Regulations, has conducted a review of its employment systems, policies and practices with respect to the matters referred to in subsection 9(1) in relation to all or part of its workforce is not required to conduct another review with respect to the matters already reviewed if the results of the previous review are likely to be the same as the results that would be achieved by a review undertaken pursuant to subsection 9(1).

Employment Equity Records

11 An employer shall establish and maintain the following records:

• (a) a record of each employee’s designated group membership, if any;

• (b) a record of each employee’s occupational group classification;

• (c) a record of each employee’s salary and salary increases;

• (c.1) for each employee employed by a private sector employer, a record containing the information referred to in paragraphs 25.1(a) to (f);

• (d) a record of each employee’s promotions;

• (e) a copy of the workforce survey questionnaire that was provided to the employees and any other information used by the employer in conducting its workforce analysis;

• (f) the summary of the results of the workforce analysis required by section 7;

• (g) a description of the activities undertaken by the employer in conducting its employment systems review;

• (h) the employer’s employment equity plan;

• (i) a record of the employer’s monitoring of the implementation of its employment equity plan, undertaken in accordance with paragraph 12(b) of the Act; and

• (j) a record of activities undertaken by the employer and information provided to employees in accordance with section 14 of the Act.

• 12 (1) Records referred to in paragraphs 11(a) to (d) in respect of terminated employees shall be kept for two years after the date of their termination.

• (2) Records referred to in paragraphs 11(e) to (j) shall be kept for two years after the period covered by the employment equity plan to which the records relate.

• (3) If a private sector employer generates its annual employment equity report required by subsection 18(1) of the Act using an application or specially designed software provided by the Government of Canada for employment equity reporting purposes, the employer shall retain a copy of the database or other computer record used to generate the report for two years after the year in respect of which the report is filed.

Tribunal Certificate

13 The form set out in Schedule V is the prescribed form of the Tribunal certificate for the purpose of subparagraph 39(4)(b)(i) of the Act.

PART IIPrivate Sector Employer Report

Application

14 This Part applies in respect of the report required to be filed by private sector employers under section 18 of the Act.

Prescriptions

14.1 In these Regulations, a reference to any of Forms 1 to 6 is to be read as a reference to a Form set out in the document entitled Employment Equity Forms 2021, prepared by the Department of Employment and Social Development and published on its website.

• 15 (1) Forms 1 to 6 are prescribed for the purpose of filing a report referred to in subsection 18(1) of the Act.

• (2) [Repealed, SOR/2020-236, s. 6]

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph 18(1)(c) of the Act, a prescribed subdivision of a salary range is a quarter of a salary range.

• 16 (1) An employment equity report shall contain the following statement certifying the accuracy of the information contained in it:

  “I, (name), certify on behalf of (legal name of employer) that the information contained in Forms 1 to 6 of this report is true and accurate in every respect, to the best of my knowledge and belief.

  Date Signature”

• (2) Where an employment equity report is filed on behalf of a corporation, the statement referred to in subsection (1) shall be signed by a senior officer of the corporation.

Prescribed Instructions

General

17 [Repealed, SOR/2020-236, s. 8]

18 For each calendar year, an employment equity report shall be completed using Forms 1 to 6 and in accordance with the instructions set out in sections 20 to 31.

19 In circumstances other than the one referred to in subsection 18(3) of the Act, for the purposes of subsection 18(1) of the Act, an employment equity report is deemed to have been filed with the Minister on the day on which the Minister receives it.

20 Where an item of information requested on a form is not applicable in the case of an employer, the employer shall so indicate using the phrase “Not Applicable”, the abbreviation “N/A” or a brief explanatory statement.

21 An employer, in completing Forms 1 to 3, shall report the required information with respect to the number of employees employed by the employer

• (a) in the case of permanent full-time and permanent part-time employees, as of December 31 of the calendar year; and

• (b) in the case of temporary employees, as of the date in the calendar year on which the number of temporary employees was the greatest.

22 An employer, in completing Forms 2 and 4 to 6, shall indicate the occupational group in which an employee is employed, as set out in column I of Schedule II, by referring to the occupational unit group set out in column II that most accurately describes the job performed by the employee.

Form 1

• 23 (1) An employer shall indicate on Form 1 the industrial sector in which employees are employed by selecting the appropriate industry group description set out in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada, developed and administered by Statistics Canada and the statistical agencies of Mexico and the United States and published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada, as amended from time to time.

• (2) An employer shall indicate on Form 1 the industrial sector with the greatest number of employees in the box entitled “Industrial Sector 1” and other industrial sectors in decreasing order of their number of employees.

• (3) Where the employees of an employer are employed in more than four industrial sectors, the employer shall indicate the additional industrial sectors and the number of employees in each of those sectors on a separate page attached to Form 1.

Form 2

• 24 (1) Subject to subsection (2), for each industrial sector indicated by an employer on Form 1, the employer shall complete the applicable Parts of Form 2 in respect of all employees of the employer in Canada for each of the following employment status categories:

  • (a) permanent full-time employees;

  • (b) permanent part-time employees; and

  • (c) temporary employees, where the number of temporary employees at any time during the reporting period constitutes 20% or more of the employer’s workforce.

• (2) Where the number of employees in an industrial sector indicated by an employer on Form 1, other than industrial sector 1, is less than 1,000, the employer shall group those employees with the employees in industrial sector 1.

• (3) An employer who has completed the applicable Parts of Form 2 separately for more than one industrial sector under subsection (1) shall also consolidate the information provided and complete the applicable Parts of Form 2 for those industrial sectors collectively.