NB Pay Transparency Act: What Employers Must Do Now
The New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act was introduced on March 18, 2026, unanimously adopted by the Legislative Assembly on May 8, 2026, and received Royal Assent on June 12, 2026. It applies to all provincially regulated employers in New Brunswick, public and private sector alike. Canadian HR Reporter
Not all provisions are currently in force. Certain requirements are already operative, including requirements relating to wage or salary disclosure in job postings and restrictions on seeking or relying on compensation history. Other significant requirements, including pay transparency reporting obligations and additional employer prohibitions, will come into force at a later date, yet to be proclaimed. Equite-equity
That two-stage structure is where many New Brunswick employers are making their first mistake. Because the full Act is not yet in force, some are treating this as a watch-and-wait situation. It is not. The job posting and compensation history provisions are live now. If your postings went out last week without a wage or wage range, you were already behind.
What the New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act requires
Job postings must include a wage or wage range
Once in force, all employers are required to include an expected wage or wage range in publicly advertised and internal job postings. This applies to both external postings — on job boards, your website, social media, and any other public-facing channel — and to internal postings for existing employees. Nbmediacoop
The requirement to post a wage range is not a soft expectation. It is a statutory obligation. A job posting that does not include compensation information is a non-compliant posting.
For many New Brunswick employers, this represents a fundamental shift in how hiring is conducted. The practice of posting a role without a salary range, gauging candidate expectations through the interview process, and making an offer based on what the market will bear is no longer available. The range has to be established before the posting goes live — not negotiated after the fact.
What counts as a compliant wage or wage range
The Act does not specify a minimum or maximum spread for a posted range, but the spirit of the legislation is clear. A range posted in bad faith — one so wide it provides no meaningful information — will not serve the compliance purpose the Act is designed to achieve, and as regulations develop, guidance on acceptable range parameters is likely to follow. Employers should be building ranges that reflect genuine compensation bands for the role, not placeholders that preserve negotiating room.
Compensation history is off the table
New Brunswick employers are prohibited from seeking or relying on an applicant's compensation history, even if voluntarily disclosed. This is one of the more operationally significant provisions because it changes not just what employers can ask, but what they can use. Nbmediacoop
What this means in practice
An applicant who volunteers their current salary during an interview cannot have that information used in setting the offer. The employer cannot factor it in, even if they did not ask for it. This requires a deliberate shift in how compensation decisions are made during the hiring process. The offer has to be grounded in the role, the compensation band, and the candidate's qualifications — not in what they were making before.
For hiring managers who have historically used compensation history as a shortcut to calibrate offers, this requires training, not just policy updates. The instinct to ask — or to use information that comes up — needs to be actively unlearned.
Reprisal protections for employees
The Act protects workers from reprisals if they discuss their pay. New Brunswick employers cannot dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, harass, or otherwise disadvantage an employee because they disclosed or discussed their compensation with colleagues, or because they exercised rights under the Act. CBC News
This is not new in principle — employees have always had some ability to discuss wages — but it is now codified and enforceable. Employers who have formal or informal cultures of pay secrecy need to understand that enforcing those cultures through employment consequences is now a statutory violation.
The reporting obligations: what is coming
The Act also imposes phased-in annual reporting obligations on reporting employers with 50 or more employees, requiring them to submit and publicly post pay transparency reports. These reporting provisions are not yet in force — they will come into effect on a date to be proclaimed, alongside regulations that will define what information must be collected, how it must be collected, and what the public reports must include. Nbmediacoop
Those regulations have not yet been released and will be important because they are expected to prescribe certain information that employers must collect, the manner in which that information must be collected, and other reporting-related details. Equite-equity
For employers with 50 or more employees in New Brunswick, the time to prepare for reporting is now, not when the proclamation date is announced. Pay transparency reports will require data about compensation by equity group. That data needs to be collected methodically and consistently over time to be meaningful. Organizations that have not been tracking compensation by gender, Indigenous identity, disability status, or racialized identity will not be able to produce accurate reports on short notice.
What New Brunswick employers need to do right now
Audit every job posting template
Start with your templates. Any template that does not include a field for wage or wage range needs to be updated before it is used again. This includes templates for job board postings, LinkedIn, your own careers page, internal postings on your intranet, and any posting channel you use to recruit.
Set compensation bands before roles are posted
The Act requires a wage or wage range in the posting. That means the compensation decision has to happen earlier in the process than many employers are accustomed to. Work with your HR team or compensation advisors to establish documented pay bands for your roles before they go to market. If your organization does not currently have documented pay bands, this is the moment to build them.
Brief your hiring managers
The compensation history prohibition requires behavioural change at the hiring manager level, not just a policy update. Every person involved in interviewing, screening, or making offers needs to understand that they cannot ask about salary history and cannot use compensation history information even if an applicant volunteers it. Build this into your hiring manager training now.
Review your employment agreements and offer letter templates
Offer letters that reference a candidate's previous compensation as a basis for the offered rate are now problematic. Templates should be reviewed and updated to ground compensation in the role and the applicable pay band, not in what the candidate was making before.
Document your pay bands
Even before the reporting obligations come into force, employers should be documenting their compensation structures. A well-documented pay band system is the foundation of compliance with both the current job posting obligation and the coming reporting requirements. It also provides defensibility if a compensation decision is challenged on human rights or pay equity grounds.
Plan for pay transparency reporting if you have 50 or more employees
If you employ 50 or more people in New Brunswick, pay transparency reporting is coming. Begin now by auditing whether your HR systems capture the demographic data that will be required. Identify the gaps. Build a plan to close them before the reporting obligation is proclaimed. Organizations that wait for the proclamation date to start collecting data will not have meaningful data to report.
Where the rest of Atlantic Canada stands
New Brunswick is the furthest along in Atlantic Canada on pay transparency, but it is not the only province moving in this direction.
Nova Scotia is in the process of developing standalone pay transparency legislation. Until such time as this legislation comes into force, pay transparency in Nova Scotia is governed by the Labour Standards Code. PEI's new Employment Standards Act, in force since June 30, 2026, addresses equal pay provisions, and pay transparency obligations are part of the broader legislative direction across the region. Nbmediacoop
For employers operating across multiple Atlantic provinces, the New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act is the most immediate compliance obligation, but it is not the last. Building pay transparency infrastructure now — documented pay bands, structured compensation processes, training for hiring managers — positions your organization ahead of the curve in every province where similar requirements are coming.
The governance and policy dimension
Pay transparency compliance is not only an HR and payroll matter. It is a governance matter. Boards and senior leadership teams need to understand that the compensation decisions their organizations make are now subject to external scrutiny in a way they were not before.
A pay transparency report that reveals significant compensation gaps across gender, race, or disability status is not just a compliance document. It is a public disclosure. Organizations that have not addressed those gaps proactively will find themselves managing a reputational issue alongside a compliance one.
The time to audit your compensation practices, identify gaps, and build a plan to address them is before you are required to publish a report — not after.
Frequently asked questions: NB Pay Transparency Act
Has the New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act received Royal Assent?
Yes. The New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act received Royal Assent on June 12, 2026. Some provisions, including the job posting wage disclosure requirement and the prohibition on compensation history, are already in force. Pay transparency reporting obligations for employers with 50 or more employees will come into force on a date to be proclaimed.
What must New Brunswick job postings include under the Pay Transparency Act?
All publicly advertised and internal job postings must include the expected wage or wage range for the role. This applies to all provincially regulated employers in New Brunswick regardless of size.
Can a New Brunswick employer ask about salary history?
No. The Act prohibits New Brunswick employers from seeking or relying on an applicant's compensation history, even if the applicant volunteers that information voluntarily during the hiring process.
Can New Brunswick employees discuss their pay with colleagues?
Yes. The Act protects employees from reprisal for discussing their compensation. Employers cannot dismiss, discipline, demote, or otherwise penalize an employee for disclosing or discussing their wages.
Which New Brunswick employers have pay transparency reporting obligations?
Employers with 50 or more employees in New Brunswick will be required to prepare and publicly post annual pay transparency reports. These reporting obligations are not yet in force and will come into effect on a date to be set by proclamation, alongside regulations defining the reporting requirements.
Does the New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act apply to private sector employers?
Yes. The Act applies to all provincially regulated employers in New Brunswick, including both public and private sector organizations.
What should New Brunswick employers with fewer than 50 employees do now?
Employers of any size must comply with the job posting wage disclosure requirement and the prohibition on using compensation history. Smaller employers should audit their job posting templates, establish documented pay bands, and train hiring managers on the new rules.
Is pay transparency legislation coming to other Atlantic provinces?
Yes. Nova Scotia is developing standalone pay transparency legislation, and pay transparency obligations are part of the broader legislative direction across Atlantic Canada. New Brunswick is currently furthest along. Employers operating across multiple provinces should build pay transparency practices now to get ahead of coming requirements in each jurisdiction.
Ready to protect your organization?
Resonance HR Law provides trusted HR and employment law advice to employers across Atlantic Canada. Whether you are updating your hiring practices and policies for the New Brunswick Pay Transparency Act or building compensation structures that hold up under scrutiny, we are here to help.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Employment law is jurisdiction-specific and changes frequently. Contact Resonance HR Law for advice tailored to your circumstances.