Employment Equity Regulations – Records – IPG-116

Designated groups

Designated groups are “women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities”.

Women

The Act does not define women. Guidance is available for collecting data on women (see Collection of Workforce Information).

Aboriginal peoples

Aboriginal peoples are “persons who are Indians, Inuit or Métis”. Indigenous peoples’ and ‘First Nations’ are more commonly used than ‘Aboriginal peoples’ and ‘Indians’.

Persons with disabilities

Persons with disabilities are “persons who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who

• consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or
• believe that a [sic] employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment,

and includes persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace”.

Members of visible minorities

Members of visible minorities are “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour”.

Employment equity plan

An employment equity plan is a structured approach to remove employment barriers against persons of designated groups and to institute positive policies and practices to correct their underrepresentation.

Employment barriers

An employment barrier is an employment policy or practice that has a disproportionately negative impact on1 or more members of designated groups (impact) and that:

• does not comply with human rights or employment legislation (legality)
• is not consistently applied across the organization (consistency)
• is not necessary for the safe and efficient operation of the organization (validity), or
• may be accommodated to reduce or eliminate the negative impact (accommodative nature)

Positive policies and practices

Positive policies and practices are measures that create an environment that supports a diverse workforce and the removal of employment barriers. They include general measures that may not explicitly target designated group members, as well as special measures and accommodations.

Special measures

Special measures aim explicitly at attracting, promoting and retaining members of the designated groups to address the ongoing effects of underrepresentation.

Accommodations

Accommodations are flexible initiatives, adjustments and supports to policies, practices and tools that must be provided to a designated group or individual within the group. This allows groups or individuals within the group to participate fully and equally in the workplace, up to the point of undue hardship on the employer, considering health, safety and cost.

Employee

Employee means a “person employed by the employer, but does not include a person employed on a temporary or casual basis for fewer than 12 weeks in a calendar year”.

Employment Equity Occupational Groups

There are 14 Employment Equity Occupational Groups (EEOGs):

• Senior Managers
• Middle and Other Managers
• Professionals
• Semi-Professionals and Technicians
• Supervisors
• Supervisors – Crafts and Trades
• Administrative and Senior Clerical Personnel
• Skilled Sales and Service Personnel
• Skilled Crafts and Trades Workers
• Clerical Personnel
• Intermediate Sales and Service Personnel
• Semi-Skilled Manual Workers
• Other Sales and Service Personnel
• Other Manual Workers

Promoted

Promoted means an employee has “permanently moved from one position or job in the employer’s organization to another position or job that

• has a higher salary or higher salary range than the salary or salary range of the position or job previously held by the employee, and
• ranks higher in the organizational hierarchy of the employer”.

Terminated

Terminated means “retired, resigned, laid off, dismissed or otherwise having ceased to be an employee, but does not include laid off temporarily or absent by reason of illness, injury or a labour dispute”.

Workforce analysis

A workforce analysis determines the underrepresentation of members of designated groups within an employer’s workforce. It does so by comparing the representation of members of designated groups within the employer’s workforce with their representation within the broader Canadian workforce.

Canadian Workforce

The Canadian workforce refers to “all persons in Canada of working age who are willing and able to work”. It can also refer to parts of that population “identifiable by qualification, eligibility or geography and from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees”. The Minister of Labour provides information on the Canadian workforce to employers. It is based on data from Statistics Canada and is only updated when new data is available.

Employment systems review

The employment systems review is a review of the employer’s employment systems, policies and practices to identify employment barriers against persons in designated groups.

Employment systems, policies and practices

Employment systems, policies and practices include all of an organization’s formal and informal policies and practices. Formal policies and practices are official, written rules of conduct in the workplace. Informal policies and practices are not official or written, they are the norms that employees actually follow and practice in the workplace.

Permanent full-time employee

Permanent full-time employee means “a person who is employed for an indeterminate period by a private sector employer to regularly work the standard number of hours fixed by the employer for employees in the occupational group in which the person is employed.”

Permanent part-time employee

Permanent part-time employee means “a person who is employed for an indeterminate period by a private sector employer to regularly work fewer than the standard number of hours fixed by the employer for employees the occupational group in which the person is employed.”

Temporary employee

Temporary employee means “a person who is employed on a temporary basis by a private sector employer for any number of hours within a fixed period or periods totaling 12 weeks or more during a calendar year, but does not include a person in full-time attendance at a secondary or post-secondary educational institution who is employed during a school break.”