Law Times

Law Times • JuLy 10, 2017 Page 7 www.lawtimesnews.com Everybody needs somebody sometimes BY DORON GOLD T he expression that "everbody needs somebody sometimes" used to seem like a grown-up nursery rhyme to me. But I think it is a manifesto for psychological wellness, especially for lawyers and law students. Those in our profession who go through hard times — and let's be honest, that's all of us at one time or another — generally gravitate toward isolation and self-sufficiency as the default method of coping. When things are going well, we can be social and engaged in our communities, but when things go south, the lawyer as loner emerges. We don't like to be seen in a vulnerable condition. Vulnerability feels like weakness or failure and it can be embarrassing in a pro- fession full of what seem like supremely pulled-together people. I once coined the term Lone Sufferer Myth to describe the lawyers and law stu- dents I encountered who thought they were the only ones in the whole profession going through the issues they were facing. I heard that from hundreds of people who came to see me for help, each of whom thought they were the only one. We also often embody what I've seen described as Terminal Uniqueness, a con- dition that renders us beyond help or hope, due to what our lawyer brains think of as a special brand of intractable problems. What ensues as a result is a myopia that convinces us that there is no hope and that we are weak for our inability to snap out of it or slay the dragon. That, in turn, often leads to depression, anxiety and addic- tion. These conditions can be the cause of our isolation, but they can also be compounded and deepened by it. The irony of our instinct to cocoon is that it is precisely the opposite thing that we need for recovery. Human beings are not islands, espe- cially during hard times, and the most ef- fective antidote to hopelessness is human connection. I see this as a therapist, know- ing full well how effective psychotherapy can be in recovery from human distress. But peer support, as a tool for recovery, is unparalleled. Human connection occurs in a multitude of forms, including leaning on a spouse, parent, friend, clergy member or colleague. It can also be experienced in mutual aid or support groups and in other groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. While we usually tend to project our self-judgment on to others, thus avoiding their knowing of our plight, in fact, those who support us are almost never as hard on us as we are on ourselves, which offers relief and a route to self-acceptance. One particularly powerful tool for in- creasing human connection is peer support, something available to many legal pro- fessionals and law students across Canada. Many lawyer assistance programs, includ- ing the LAPBC in British Co- lumbia and the Member As- sistance Program in Ontario, offer free, confidential peer support. Confidentiality is impor- tant, because lawyers need to know that sharing their personal stories won't result in damage to their professional reputations or even dis- ciplinary proceedings by the regulator. Peer support programs are insulated from such disclosure, treating clients' per- sonal information as sacrosanct. Peer support offers participants nu- merous benefits. Individuals are matched with other lawyers, paralegals or students who have been through similar lived expe- riences and understand others' challenges. The shared experience offers empathy and understanding, combats and defeats the counterproductive isolation mentioned above and offers hope because the client feels that if this volunteer can recover, per- haps they can, too. It is a surprisingly effective approach to mental health and addiction recovery, and it is empirically verified. The Mental Health Commission of Canada has confirmed that considerable, robust research demonstrates that peer support reduces hospitalizations for mental health issues, reduces symptom distress and improves quality of life. Peer support works. Peer volunteers are not counsellors or therapists and they're not there to give advice or fix problems. A peer offers com- passion, unique understanding, empathy and companionship. She or he listens, which may not seem like much, but to a person who is isolated, hopeless and self-judging, it can make all of the difference between going down a pro- verbial rabbit hole or climbing out of one. In study upon study of lessons learned by those facing the end of their lives, a con- sistent theme emerges. People facing the twilight of their jour- ney generally don't lament not having worked more or not having made more money. They invariably measure the quality of their lives by the people whom they've loved and who have loved them, by their friendships and human connections. As it turns out, everybody needs some- body sometimes. LT uDoron Gold is a registered social worker who is also a former practising lawyer. He works with lawyers and law students in his role as a staff clinician and presenter with the Member Assistance Program as well as with members of the general public in his private psychotherapy practice. He's available at dorongold.com. Pay transparency laws needed BY FAY FARADAY I t's been 30 years since Ontario adopted its then world-leading pay equity law to end systemic sex discrimination in pay. But three decades later, the gender pay gap remains a human rights cri- sis that impoverishes women in Ontario and across Canada. Now, as frustration mounts, both workers and investors are calling for pay transparency laws to boost robust enforcement to close the gender pay gap. But first, the facts. The gender pay gap is real. And it is everywhere. This issue is important to lawyers whether they represent workers who face discrimination, represent employers who face liabilities or are legal partners who may face liabilities for wage gaps in their own law firms. Whether measured by hourly, weekly or annual pay, by full-time, part-time or annual earnings or by identi- cal work, similar work or work of similar value, women workers are routinely paid less than men. Based on av- erage annual earnings, women face a staggering gender wage gap. Indigenous women face a 57-per-cent gap, women with disabilities face a 46-per-cent gap, immigrant women face a 39-per-cent gap and racialized women face a 32-per-cent gap, according to Census data and Statistics Canada Canadian Income Statistics data contained in reports released in 2016. On average, Ontario women face a gender pay gap of 30 per cent. Over a 45-year career, that is the equivalent of working 13 years without pay. A gender pay gap hits women at every age cohort, every educational level and at every income level. Re- cent studies of Canadian university graduates reveal that from their very first jobs women are paid less than their male classmates who graduate from the same pro- gram, in the same year and seek jobs in the same field. The pay gap exists in every sector of the economy. Of the 500 occupations tracked by Statistics Canada, women are paid less than men in 469 of them. Women lawyers are not immune from this discrim- ination. The LSUC's 2010 report "Racialization and Gender of Lawyers in Ontario" states: "Women and especially visible minority lawyers earn less than their White male counterparts." Women lawyers aged 35 to 39 years old on average face a 20-per-cent gender pay gap; that grows to a 28-per-cent gender pay gap by ages 45 to 49. A 2016 study prepared for Ontario's Ministry of La- bour by Deloitte LLP calculated that, in Ontario alone, the gender wage gap represents $18 billion in "foregone income" each year. As Ontario's Gender Wage Gap Strategy Steering Committee highlighted, that $18 bil- lion in missing wages equals 2.5 per cent of the prov- ince's annual GDP. That's as large as Ontario's motor vehicle and auto parts industries combined. Sex discrimination in pay has been against the law for decades. It is prohibited under the Human Rights Code, the Employment Standards Act and the Pay Eq- uity Act. But non-compliance remains a significant issue, particularly in the private sector and in non- unionized workplaces. Pay secrecy is one element that allows the pay gap to fester. So, pay transparency laws are the newest legal tool being adopted globally to combat wage discrimi- nation. To mark Equal Pay Day earlier this year, Ontario's Equal Pay Coalition unveiled its draft Pay Transpar- ency to Close the Gender Pay Gap Act, challenging Ontario to take action. Pay transparency laws have already been adopted in, among other countries, Australia, the U.K., Germany, Belgium, Denmark, several states in the U.S. and, most famously, in Iceland earlier this year. Pay transparency laws put the onus on businesses to prove they are complying with their existing legal obli- gations to provide discrimination-free pay. Transpar- ency laws incorporate three key elements. First, pay transparency laws give workers and inves- tors the right to know how women and men are paid in the workplace. Second, pay transparency laws require employers to disclose their compensation structure by gender and job classification. This would be done by filing annual reports with the Ministry of Labour identifying av- erage earnings by gender and by job classification, providing pay transparency reports to employees on request and posting annual pay transparency reports in workplaces and placing pay transparency re- ports before each annual meeting of shareholders. Unlike Ontario's Sunshine List — which has itself disclosed persistent gender pay gaps even in high- income secure jobs — pay transparency laws do not disclose individual workers' names and earnings. In- stead, pay transparency laws disclose anonymized earnings by sex, either showing the range or average of female and male wages. Third, pay transparency laws protect workers from reprisals for asking for information about or discuss- ing wages. Pay transparency laws sharpen accountability for human rights compliance by giving workers key infor- mation they need to demand and enforce their rights. They help identify the sticky f loors, glass ceilings and occupational segregation that sustain the pay gap. They help identify women's predominance in precari- ous part-time, casual, seasonal and temporary agency work. They enable governments and other anchor in- stitutions to make gender pay transparency a manda- tory part of procurement practices. And, as highlight- ed by the Responsible Investment Association and the Shareholder Association for Research and Education, they enable investors to engage in responsible invest- ment strategies focused on decent work. The gender pay gap is sustained by many factors. And we need many co-ordinated strategies to close that gap. Lawyers need to engage in those strategies, to close the gender pay gap for their clients and in the profession. The Equal Pay Coalition has mapped a 12-step action plan to close the gap. If Ontario and Canada want to regain their standing as global leaders in the fight against systemic sex discrimination, they need a robust, multi-pronged legislative and policy response that includes mandatory pay transparency laws. LT uFay Faraday is a labour and human rights lawyer in Toronto and co-chair of the Equal Pay Coalition. u SPEAKER'S CORNER COMMENT The Lawyer Therapist Doron Gold

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