Source
r/legaladviceofftopic•
lbft

[BC, Canada] Can workers get in trouble for discussing pay? A big YouTuber thinks so.

The YouTube channel LinusTechTips said on their podcast today that their employees aren't allowed to discuss wages, and a leaked copy of their employee handbook posted on reddit says that wages are considered "highly confidential" and "not to be shared, discussed or left in a place that can be seen by co-workers or third parties outside LMG".

This apparently isn't legal in some parts of the world like the US. Discussion in the channel's subreddit mostly focuses on this being a pretty uncool policy to put in place.

What does British Columbia law have to say about an employer prohibiting employees from discussing compensation?

Posted Feb 18, 2023, 1:26 PM UTC

4118
MaxNV•

This comes up somewhat frequently in r/personalfinancecanada. Usually the consensus is that employers are allowed to prohibit wage discussion in every province except New Brunswick. Ontario also allows wage discussions for the very narrow purpose of figuring out if people are being paid differently on the basis of gender. The Wynn government passed a law allowing blanket wage discussion, but the Ford government hasn’t (and never will) bring it into force.

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Fool-me-thrice•

Usually the consensus is that employers are allowed to prohibit wage discussion in every province except New Brunswick.

Nova Scotia, actually

2
Fool-me-thrice•

This question comes in in r/legaladvicecanada a lot (I'm a mod there; I see it about once a month).

Employers can have policies banning discussions about wages unless there is a law to the contrary.

In the US, there's federal legislation to prohibit it.

In Canada, only one province (Nova Scotia) has banned it. The previous Ontario Government had passed legislation that would have eventually banned it, but the current Ontario government kiboshed it.

BC has no such legislation. Some commenters like to (wrongfully) argue that it does, pointing to either s. 8 of the Labour Relations Code (which has no relevance in a non-union environment) and a section of of the Employment Standards Act that prohibits employers from making reprisals against employees in some circumstances, one of which is discussing wages for the purposes of determining whether the employer is breaching Equal Pay for Equal Work provisions. But, Equal Pay for Equal Work is incredibly narrow, and is about purely sex-based discrimination in pay that can't be explained by other reasons like seniority, education, or experience.

6
GerryAttric•

I'm pretty sure that may be enforceable on company property and on company time. Away from work, I assume one's freedom of speech supercedes any company regulation; however, if you sign an agreement to follow that rule, you probably would be shit out of luck.

1
Fool-me-thrice•

Away from work, I assume one's freedom of speech supercedes any company regulation;

Nope. Unless you are in NS, your employer can impose a policy with a blanket prohibition on discussing wages.

5
GerryAttric•

They can impose all they want, but if you don't sign an employment agreement stating you'll comply with that policy as a condition of your employment, there is nothing they can legally do to enforce it.

0
Fool-me-thrice•

An employer can terminate without cause at any time; ask they need to do is provide reasonable notice or cash in lieu.

But you are wrong about the policy having to be signed to be enforced. Employers can discipline/ terminate with cause for breaches of policy. You don’t have to sign a policy. They just need to have brought it to your attention.

Whether or not talking about your wages could justify a with cause termination would depend on the circumstances. Cause is a high bar.

3
RJM_50•

The YouTuber Linus Sebastian has stated he was advised by legal counsel over the years to do "without cause" terminations because of extra legal exposure if they gave a reason, and the employee wants to dispute it.🤷🏻‍♂️

1
the_lamou•

Wow, who knew that our humble neighbor to the north was such an antico-worker hellscape?

But seriously, y'all should be really embarrassed about being less employee-friendly than the US, even if it's only in one small area.

1
NoireResteem•

Less employee friendly? Don’t go being all high and mighty when overall you guys have a lot less protections in place for employees versus us in Canada. The biggest example I can think of is we don’t have “Employment at Will” like you. We might not be perfect but you guys have a lot less policies in place. We simply don’t consider not discussing wages a big deal.

1
Busy_Signature_5681•

Employment at will isn’t what everyone portrays it to be. There are still a plethora of things you can’t be fired for even in an “at will” state.

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Fool-me-thrice•

The same is true in Canada (and our Human Rights legislation is arguably stronger even then) but in a legal, without cause termination Canadian employees still have the right to reasonable notice (which can be up to 26 months for very long service employees) or cash in lieu. The employer has only a limited ability to contract that right away, because there are statutory minimum notice periods that set a floor for employment contracts (but that don't displace the common law). That's a significant benefit that American employees don't have.

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Busy_Signature_5681•

What should be embarrassing is the number of Americans that don’t understand the law.

A company in the US can restrict you from talking about your wages at work, if they also restrict all personal conversations.

Also telling your employees they can’t talk about their wages isn’t illegal, it’s when you enforce it (without restrictions on all personal conversations) when it becomes illegal.

1
the_lamou•

A company in the US can restrict you from talking about your wages at work, if they also restrict all personal conversations.

Yes, if the company restricts all conversations in a specific and limited area, that will include conversations about wages.

What they cannot do is restrict you from talking about wages specifically anywhere where conversation is allowed. Unlike in Canada, where they can ban wage conversations even outside of work.

Also telling your employees they can’t talk about their wages isn’t illegal

Yes, it is. There is nothing else required for it to be illegal than forbidding wage conversations.

1
Busy_Signature_5681•

It’s not. You can tell them they cant do it all day. It’s only becomes illegal if you enforce the policy.

1
the_lamou•

No, dude, it's illegal but itself to restrict conversations about wages. There may not be damages without retaliation, limiting what you can do about it, but it becomes illegal the minute you say it regardless of any consequences that may be enforced. I get refreshers on this every year from both my lawyer and my EPO.

1
TyBytMyn•

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96244_01#part2 Right to communicate 8 Nothing in this Code deprives a person of the freedom to communicate to an employee a statement of fact or opinion reasonably held with respect to the employer's business.

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Fool-me-thrice•

The Labour Relations Code doesn't apply to employment law. It governs the relationship between unions and employers. And in an unionized environment, wages are transparent (as they are bargained as part of the collective agreement).

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