Pay Equity and Compensation Studies
Initial exercise, 5-year maintenance, salary study — for organizations subject to the Pay Equity Act.
Pay equity is a mandatory exercise for any Quebec organization with 10 or more employees, governed by the Pay Equity Act and the CNESST. The initial exercise is required as soon as the threshold is reached, maintenance is due every 5 years, and deadlines run from the organization's creation date — not from when you find out.
Factero's HR partners carry out the exercise with you: job category evaluation, compensation comparison, compliance report, and mandatory posting. The IT team intervenes when payroll systems or HR tools are involved to ensure consistency between data and conclusions.
Who is it for?
Organizations with 10+ employees in Quebec — initial exercise or 5-year maintenance due.
Quebec municipalities and public bodies required to demonstrate CNESST compliance.
SMEs and non-profits that want to validate their salary positioning to improve retention.
When does it help?
If you recognize yourself in any of these situations, this service is designed for you.
- You've just reached 10 employees, received a CNESST notice, or your accountant reminded you that deadlines are running.
- Your pay equity exercise is more than 5 years old — maintenance is mandatory.
- You're having difficulty recruiting or retaining employees and want to validate your salary positioning.
What will you receive?
Compliance report and mandatory posting, documented maintenance file.
Salary study: market positioning report, adjustment recommendations, retention strategy.
Documentation structured to respond to CNESST audit requests.
Not a good fit?
- If your organization has fewer than 10 employees, you are not subject to the Pay Equity Act.
- If you need legal advice or representation before CNESST, a labour lawyer will be more appropriate.
How does the process work?
A rigorous and transparent approach, step by step.
Pay Equity
If your organization has never completed the pay equity exercise, you may be carrying an unprovisioned liability — retroactive salary adjustments run from when you reached the 10-employee threshold, with a 4-year window to complete the exercise. Overdue organizations face fines of $1,000 to $45,000 and CNESST public listing. For compliant organizations: maintenance is mandatory every 5 years.
Salary Studies and Benchmarks
Replacing an employee costs on average the equivalent of a full year's salary — more for specialized roles. A salary study validates whether your compensation is competitive before losing key people, not after. Market positioning, adjustment recommendations, retention strategy. Typical duration: 3 to 6 weeks.
Law 27 — Related Service
If Law 27 also applies to your organization, coordinating both mandates allows shared data collection and reduced overall fees — one scoping, two deliverables. See the Law 27 Compliance service.
IT and HR Coordination
Poorly extracted or incomplete payroll data can invalidate exercise results and force a partial redo — an avoidable cost. Factero IT team extracts, validates and secures data while HR partners lead the exercise. If payroll system adjustments or HR-IT policy changes result from the exercise, coordination is already in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions our clients ask before reaching out.
How long does a pay equity exercise take?
The typical duration for an initial exercise is 3 to 6 months, depending on organization size and the availability of compensation data. Obligations vary by threshold:
— 10 to 49 employees: exercise required without a formal structured program. Legal deadline: 4 years from the year the threshold is reached.
— 50 to 99 employees: mandatory 4-step pay equity program with regulated dual posting.
— 100+ employees: mandatory joint committee to develop and monitor the program.
Maintenance — mandatory every 5 years — is faster: typically 4 to 8 weeks. Factero's HR partners carry out the exercise with you, while the IT team intervenes when payroll systems or HR tools are involved. The exact duration is specified in the proposal after an initial scoping of your situation during the free 20-minute discovery call.
What is the typical fee range?
Fees vary depending on the mandate type, number of job categories, and availability of compensation data. Indicative ranges:
— Pay equity — initial exercise: $15,000 to $40,000.
— Pay equity — 5-year maintenance: $5,000 to $12,000.
— Salary study (market positioning): $5,000 to $15,000 depending on the number of positions evaluated and analysis depth.
These ranges are indicative — the formal proposal specifies fees based on your specific situation after the initial scoping. If you combine the pay equity exercise with a Law 27 or HR compliance mandate, Factero pools data collection: one scoping, multiple deliverables, and reduced scoping fees for the second mandate. For public bodies subject to SEAO rules, Factero is registered and can respond to formal tenders.
Can we mandate only the salary study without the pay equity exercise?
Yes — the salary study and pay equity exercise are two distinct mandates that can be conducted independently. The salary study compares your compensation grid to the market for a set of targeted positions: it helps adjust your salaries to recruit and retain the right profiles. The pay equity exercise is a legal obligation for organizations with 10+ employees in Quebec — it compares compensation between predominantly male and predominantly female job categories. One does not replace the other. If you're unsure whether you're subject to the Pay Equity Act, the free 20-minute discovery call confirms it. If both mandates are relevant, Factero's HR partners can pool data collection — one scoping for both deliverables, with reduced scoping fees.
What data do we need to prepare before starting?
The essential data are the list of all positions, total compensation per position, and a summary description of responsibilities by category. More specifically, Factero's HR partners need: the complete list of positions and job categories, base salaries and total compensation per position (including benefits, bonuses, premiums), and a summary description of responsibilities and required qualifications per job category. If your data is in payroll software (Desjardins, ADP, Ceridian, etc.) or an HR file, our team can help extract and validate it into an exploitable format. The more available and structured the data is from the start, the faster the exercise and the fewer back-and-forth exchanges. The free 20-minute discovery call assesses the state of your data and estimates the client-side preparation workload.
We've never done the exercise and should have. What is our exposure?
If your organization has exceeded the 4-year deadline without completing the exercise, retroactive salary adjustments may be owed and the CNESST can impose sanctions. The Pay Equity Act provides for fines of $1,000 to $45,000 and publication of the employer's name in the CNESST list of non-compliant organizations. Retroactive adjustments run from the date the exercise should have been completed — which can represent a significant unprovisioned liability in your financial statements. Assessing your actual legal exposure — amounts potentially owed, sanction risks, regularization strategy — is a matter for a specialized labour lawyer. Factero can refer you to a partner lawyer if needed. The scoping meeting with Factero defines the HR mandate scope and prepares the data to complete the exercise as quickly as possible — it does not assess legal exposure, which falls under legal counsel.
Are the results of the exercise confidential?
Pay equity exercise results must be posted within the organization — it's a legal obligation — but individual compensation data remains strictly confidential. The Pay Equity Act requires posting accessible to all employees for a minimum of 60 days. The posting indicates identified job categories, the evaluation method used, comparison results, and planned salary adjustments. Individual salaries, nominative bonuses, and personal data are never disclosed. Factero's HR partners guide you on what must be posted, how to word the posting to be compliant without disclosing sensitive information, and what deadlines apply to each step. If employees contest the results, the CNESST can be contacted — a labour lawyer will assist you in that eventuality.
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