Employment Equity Regulations

3 (1) Subject to subsections (8) and (9), before preparing an employment equity plan referred to in section 10 of the Act, an employer shall conduct a workforce survey by providing to each employee a workforce survey questionnaire that asks the employee whether the employee is

• (a) a member of a visible minority;

• (b) a person with a disability; or

• (c) an aboriginal person.

(2) The questionnaire shall contain the definitions members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities and aboriginal peoples set out in section 3 of the Act, or a description of those expressions that is consistent with those definitions, to assist the employee in responding to the questionnaire.

(3) A questionnaire that contains questions and definitions substantially in the form set out in Schedule IV shall be considered to satisfy the requirements of subsection (2).

(4) The employer shall inform each employee, either on the questionnaire or in a notice accompanying the questionnaire, that a person may be a member of more than one designated group.

(5) The questionnaire may include additional questions relating to employment equity.

(6) The questionnaire shall indicate that

• (a) responses to the questions on the questionnaire are voluntary; and

• (b) the information collected in the questionnaire is confidential and will only be used by or be disclosed to other persons within the employer’s organization in order for the employer to carry out its obligations under the Act.

(7) Paragraph (6)(a) shall not be construed as precluding an employer from requiring each employee to return the questionnaire to the employer.

(8) An employer is not required to conduct a workforce survey in respect of all or part of its workforce under subsection (1) if

• (a) before the coming into force of these Regulations, the employer has already conducted a survey in respect of all or that part of its workforce to determine whether the employees belong to any of the designated groups referred to in that subsection;

• (b) the previous survey had questions and was conducted in a manner that achieved results that are likely to be as accurate as the results that would be achieved using a workforce survey questionnaire under this section;

• (c) responses to the questions in the previous survey were voluntary; and

• (d) the survey results have been kept up to date in accordance with section 5.

(9) Where an employer replaces its employment equity plan with a new plan, the employer is not required to conduct a new workforce survey if the previous survey results have been kept up to date in accordance with section 5.