The federal government’s new gender pay equity law will have the opposite effect and actually hurt the real interests of female workers, a scholar says. The Pay Equity Act, which came into effect on Aug. 31, mandates federally regulated employers with 10 or more workers to come up with a pay equity plan within three years. Filomena Tassi, the minister of labour before the election was called, said the act, which received royal assent in December 2018, means women will be paid equally for work of equal value, and is a “significant step forward towards reducing the gender wage gap.” According to Statistics Canada, for every dollar earned by a man, a woman earns 89 cents. Matthew Lau, whose research includes fiscal policies and employment regulations, has a different take on it. He told The Epoch Times that the pay equity law will have the effect of increasing the costs …