Get your pay transparency and pay equity ready for 2026.
These are two different obligations, and Ontario employers keep conflating them. New job-posting rules govern how you advertise roles. The Pay Equity Act governs the wages inside your organization. 1205 readies you for both — HR advisory only, no legal advice.
— Readiness Check from $2,500 · One business-day reply
Two regimes, kept separate: Pay transparency is a job-posting rule — what your public postings must show (a pay range, and whether AI screens applicants). Pay equity is an internal rule — keeping wages equitable between male- and female-dominated job classes under the Pay Equity Act. They come from different laws and need different work. 1205 provides HR advisory and readiness for both — not legal advice, and not legal interpretation. For disputes or legal interpretation, we work alongside employment counsel or a compensation specialist.
How you advertise roles changed in 2026.
Ontario’s job-posting pay-transparency rules come from amendments to the Employment Standards Act under the Working for Workers legislation. This is about the outside-facing posting, not your internal wage structure.
Effective date: The publicly advertised job-posting requirements are in force January 1, 2026 for employers with 25 or more employees. Source: Government of Ontario. Confirm how the rules apply to your organization with employment counsel.
Compensation in every public posting
Publicly advertised roles show the expected pay or a pay range. We review your posting templates and salary bands so the number you publish is defensible and consistent across hiring managers.
Salary-band & posting-template review.
AI-hiring-use disclosure
If AI is used to screen, assess, or select applicants, the posting must say so. We map where AI touches your hiring funnel and give you disclosure language that is accurate without over-promising.
Disclose if AI screens, assesses, or selects.
Vacancy statement & candidate process
Postings must state whether the role is an existing vacancy, and the rules carry record-keeping and candidate-notice expectations. We turn those into a simple, repeatable hiring-process checklist.
Existing-vacancy statement + records.
Who is in scope
The job-posting rules apply to employers with 25 or more employees, with thresholds and exemptions that need a careful read. We help you confirm scope and recommend you verify it with counsel.
In force Jan 1, 2026 · 25+ employees.
The AI-hiring-disclosure piece sits beside the broader question of how AI is governed across your hiring process. See AI hiring compliance in Ontario for the wider governance picture.
A separate, ongoing internal obligation.
This is not a posting rule. Under Ontario’s Pay Equity Act, employers must maintain pay equity between male-dominated and female-dominated job classes over time — it is an ongoing duty, not a one-time project, and it long predates the 2026 posting rules.
Who it applies to: The Pay Equity Act applies to all public-sector employers and private-sector employers with 10 or more employees, and the maintenance duty is continuous — there is no single deadline. Source: Ontario Pay Equity Office.
Job-class review
Maintenance starts with current job classes. We review how roles are grouped into male-dominated and female-dominated job classes and flag where duties have drifted since your plan was set.
Capture changes to duties & job classes.
Job value & rate-change review
When job value or pay rates change, a gap can quietly reopen. We review changes against your comparison method so male-dominated classes are not paid more than equally valued female-dominated classes.
Job value / job rate change review.
Maintenance records & documentation
The Act requires that pay equity be maintained, not just achieved once. We refresh your maintenance records and document the review so you have an audit-ready trail.
Refresh and document maintenance.
Where it stops being HR work
Choosing or signing off a job-evaluation methodology, a contested complaint before the Pay Equity Office, or legal interpretation of the Act are not HR-advisory work. Those go to employment counsel or a compensation specialist.
Disputes / methodology sign-off -> specialist.
Where our work ends: 1205 provides HR advisory and readiness — gap reviews, posting templates and salary-band methodology, pay-equity maintenance records, and documentation. We do not provide legal advice or legal interpretation of either regime. For a dispute, a complaint before the Pay Equity Office, sign-off on a job-evaluation methodology, or any legal interpretation, we work alongside your employment counsel or a compensation specialist.
Start with a Readiness Check. Scope the rest on a call.
The entry Readiness Check is fixed-fee and published. The scoped core engagement and any maintenance retainer are quoted after a short call, because the right scope depends on your headcount and how many job classes you run.
Readiness Check
A focused review of your job-posting / pay-transparency practices and your Pay Equity Act maintenance status, with a prioritized fix list. Typically $2,500–$4,500 by size.
Core engagement
Posting templates and AI-disclosure language, salary-band methodology, job-class and wage-gap review, and refreshed maintenance records. Scoped to your headcount and job classes.
Maintenance retainer
Annual maintenance review, new-role banding support, and posting-template upkeep as the rules evolve — so the documentation stays audit-ready year over year.
We publish the entry price so you can plan. Core and retainer figures depend on scope and are confirmed on a call rather than printed here.
Get oriented first.
Free self-check
Run the salary-band and posting-readiness self-check in about three minutes to see where the gaps likely sit.
Run the self-checkHR services cost
See how compensation-compliance work fits inside the broader cost of HR support for a Canadian employer.
HR services costAI hiring compliance
The posting AI-disclosure rule connects to how AI is governed across your whole hiring process.
AI hiring complianceTwo regimes, kept straight.
Are pay transparency and pay equity the same thing?
No — they are two different obligations, and confusing them is the most common mistake. Pay transparency is about how you advertise roles: under Ontario’s job-posting rules (in force January 1, 2026 for employers with 25 or more employees), public postings must show an expected pay range and disclose if AI is used to screen, assess, or select applicants. Pay equity is a separate, long-standing duty under the Pay Equity Act to keep wages between male-dominated and female-dominated job classes equitable as your organization changes. 1205 readies you for both, and keeps them clearly distinct.
What changed for Ontario job postings on January 1, 2026?
For employers with 25 or more employees, publicly advertised job postings must include the expected compensation or a compensation range, must disclose whether artificial intelligence is used to screen, assess, or select applicants, and must state whether the posting is for an existing vacancy. There are added record-keeping and candidate-notice expectations as well. These come from amendments to the Employment Standards Act under Ontario’s Working for Workers legislation. Confirm how the rules apply to your organization with employment counsel.
What does pay equity maintenance under the Pay Equity Act require?
Once a pay equity plan is in place, the Pay Equity Act requires that pay equity be maintained — it is not a one-time exercise. As job duties, job classes, and rates change, you have to revisit your compensation practices so that no new gap opens up between male-dominated and female-dominated job classes of comparable value. 1205 helps you review job classes, refresh maintenance records, and document the work; we do not interpret the Act for you.
Does 1205 give legal advice on these rules?
No. 1205 provides HR advisory and readiness — gap reviews, posting-template and salary-band methodology, maintenance records, and documentation. We do not provide legal advice or legal interpretation. For a dispute, a complaint before the Pay Equity Office, sign-off on a job-evaluation methodology, or any legal interpretation of either regime, we work alongside your employment counsel or a compensation specialist.
Where does AI-hiring disclosure fit in?
The January 2026 job-posting rules require you to disclose in a public posting if AI is used to screen, assess, or select applicants. That sits next to the broader question of how AI is governed across your hiring process. We cover the posting-disclosure readiness here, and the wider AI-in-hiring governance is addressed on our AI hiring compliance page.
What does it cost?
A Pay Transparency & Pay Equity Readiness Check starts at CA$2,500 (typically CA$2,500–$4,500 depending on headcount and job-class count). The scoped core engagement — posting-template and salary-band work plus pay-equity maintenance — and any ongoing maintenance retainer are quoted after a short call, once we understand your structure. We do not publish a fixed core price because the right scope depends on your size and how much is already in place.
The Human-Attested standard
AI in the workflow. A person on the hook.
AI assists. It never decides.
We use AI to move faster on research, drafting, and pattern-finding. It is a tool in the workflow — not the analyst, not the judgment, and not the author of what we deliver.
A senior human reviews and owns the work.
Every deliverable is reviewed and stood behind by a senior 1205 practitioner. The findings, the recommendations, and the file are human work product — attributable to a named person, not a model.
We escalate when the matter needs it.
Where a question crosses into regulated territory, we say so and route it to employment counsel or a compensation specialist. We would rather hand off than overreach.
We are clear about our boundaries.
1205 provides HR advisory and readiness for Ontario's pay-transparency job-posting rules and Pay Equity Act maintenance. It does not provide legal advice or legal interpretation. Disputes, job-evaluation methodology sign-off, and legal interpretation are referred to employment counsel or a compensation specialist.
See how 1205 handles AI-assisted work, human review, regulated partner routing, and confidentiality in the Human-Attested Trust Pack.
Know where you stand on both.
Tell us the basics and we’ll scope where your job-posting / pay-transparency practices and your Pay Equity Act maintenance stand, and what to close first. We reply within one business day. HR advisory only — no legal advice.
— Readiness Check from $2,500