Pay transparency prior to employment
1. Applicants for employment shall have the right to receive, from the prospective employer, information about:
(a)
the initial pay or its range, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, to be attributed for the position concerned; and
(b)
where applicable, the relevant provisions of the collective agreement applied by the employer in relation to the position.
Such information shall be provided in a manner such as to ensure an informed and transparent negotiation on pay, such as in a published job vacancy notice, prior to the job interview or otherwise.
2. An employer shall not ask applicants about their pay history during their current or previous employment relationships.
3. Employers shall ensure that job vacancy notices and job titles are gender-neutral and that recruitment processes are led in a non-discriminatory manner, in order not to undermine the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value (the ‘right to equal pay’).
Transparency of pay setting and pay progression policy
1. Employers shall make easily accessible to their workers the criteria that are used to determine workers’ pay, pay levels and pay progression. Those criteria shall be objective and gender neutral.
2. Member States may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the obligation related to the pay progression set out in paragraph 1.
Right to information
1. Workers shall have the right to request and receive in writing, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 4, information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs.
2. Workers shall have the possibility to request and receive the information referred to in paragraph 1 through their workers’ representatives, in accordance with national law and/or practice. They shall also have the possibility to request and receive the information through an equality body.
If the information received is inaccurate or incomplete, workers shall have the right to request, personally or through their workers’ representatives, additional and reasonable clarifications and details regarding any of the data provided and receive a substantiated reply.
3. Employers shall inform all workers, on an annual basis, of their right to receive the information referred to in paragraph 1 and of the steps that the worker is to undertake to exercise that right.
4. Employers shall provide the information referred to in paragraph 1 within a reasonable period of time but in any event within two months from the date on which the request is made.
5. Workers shall not be prevented from disclosing their pay for the purpose of the enforcement of the principle of equal pay. In particular, Member States shall put in place measures to prohibit contractual terms that restrict workers from disclosing information about their pay.
6. Employers may require workers who have obtained information pursuant to this Article, other than information concerning their own pay or pay level, not to use that information for any purpose other than to exercise their right to equal pay.
Accessibility of information
Employers shall provide any information shared with workers or applicants for employment pursuant to Articles 5, 6 and 7 in a format which is accessible to persons with disabilities and which takes into account their particular needs.
Reporting on pay gap between female and male workers
1. Member States shall ensure that employers provide the following information concerning their organisation, in accordance with this Article:
(a)
the gender pay gap;
(b)
the gender pay gap in complementary or variable components;
(c)
the median gender pay gap;
(d)
the median gender pay gap in complementary or variable components;
(e)
the proportion of female and male workers receiving complementary or variable components;
(f)
the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band;
(g)
the gender pay gap between workers by categories of workers broken down by ordinary basic wage or salary and complementary or variable components.
2. Employers with 250 workers or more shall, by 7 June 2027 and every year thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.
3. Employers with 150 to 249 workers shall, by 7 June 2027 and every three years thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.
4. Employers with 100 to 149 workers shall, by 7 June 2031 and every three years thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.
5. Member States shall not prevent employers with fewer than 100 workers from providing the information set out in paragraph 1 on a voluntary basis. Member States may, as a matter of national law, require employers with fewer than 100 workers to provide information on pay.
6. The accuracy of the information shall be confirmed by the employer’s management, after consulting workers’ representatives. Workers’ representatives shall have access to the methodologies applied by the employer.
7. The information referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (g), of this Article shall be communicated to the authority in charge of compiling and publishing such data pursuant to Article 29(3), point (c). The employer may publish the information referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (f), of this Article on its website or make it publicly available in another manner.
8. Member States may compile the information set out in paragraph 1, points (a) to (f), of this Article themselves, on the basis of administrative data such as data provided by employers to the tax or social security authorities. The information shall be made public pursuant to Article 29(3), point (c).
9. Employers shall provide the information referred to in paragraph 1, point (g), to all their workers and to the workers’ representatives of their workers. Employers shall provide the information to the labour inspectorate and the equality body upon request. The information from the previous four years, if available, shall also be provided upon request.
10. Workers, workers’ representatives, labour inspectorates and equality bodies shall have the right to ask employers for additional clarifications and details regarding any of the data provided, including explanations concerning any gender pay differences. Employers shall respond to such requests within a reasonable time by providing a substantiated reply. Where gender pay differences are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, employers shall remedy the situation within a reasonable period of time in close cooperation with workers’ representatives, the labour inspectorate and/or the equality body.
Joint pay assessment
1. Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that employers who are subject to pay reporting pursuant to Article 9 conduct, in cooperation with their workers’ representatives, a joint pay assessment where all the following conditions are met:
(a)
the pay reporting demonstrates a difference in the average pay level between female and male workers of at least 5 % in any category of workers;
(b)
the employer has not justified such a difference in the average pay level on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria;
(c)
the employer has not remedied such an unjustified difference in the average pay level within six months of the date of submission of the pay reporting.
2. The joint pay assessment shall be carried out in order to identify, remedy and prevent differences in pay between female and male workers which are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, and shall include the following:
(a)
an analysis of the proportion of female and male workers in each category of workers;
(b)
information on average female and male workers’ pay levels and complementary or variable components for each category of workers;
(c)
any differences in average pay levels between female and male workers in each category of workers;
(d)
the reasons for such differences in average pay levels, on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, if any, as established jointly by the workers’ representatives and the employer;
(e)
the proportion of female and male workers who benefited from any improvement in pay following their return from maternity or paternity leave, parental leave or carers’ leave, if such improvement occurred in the relevant category of workers during the period in which the leave was taken;
(f)
measures to address differences in pay if they are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria;
(g)
an evaluation of the effectiveness of measures from previous joint pay assessments.
3. Employers shall make the joint pay assessment available to workers and workers’ representatives and shall communicate it to the monitoring body pursuant to Article 29(3), point (d). They shall make it available to the labour inspectorate and the equality body upon request.
4. When implementing the measures arising from the joint pay assessment, the employer shall remedy the unjustified differences in pay within a reasonable period of time, in close cooperation, in accordance with national law and/or practice, with the workers’ representatives. The labour inspectorate and/or the equality body may be asked to participate in the process. The implementation of the measures shall include an analysis of the existing gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems or the establishment of such systems, to ensure that any direct or indirect pay discrimination on the grounds of sex is excluded.
Support for employers with fewer than 250 workers
Member States shall provide support, in the form of technical assistance and training, to employers with fewer than 250 workers and to the workers’ representatives concerned, to facilitate their compliance with the obligations laid down in this Directive.
Data protection
1. To the extent that any information provided pursuant to measures taken under Articles 7, 9, and 10 involves the processing of personal data, it shall be provided in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
2. Any personal data processed pursuant to Articles 7, 9 or 10 of this Directive shall not be used for any purpose other than for the application of the principle of equal pay.
3. Member States may decide that, where the disclosure of information pursuant to Articles 7, 9 and 10 would lead to the disclosure, either directly or indirectly, of the pay of an identifiable worker, only the workers’ representatives, the labour inspectorate or the equality body shall have access to that information. The workers’ representatives or the equality body shall advise workers regarding a possible claim under this Directive without disclosing actual pay levels of individual workers performing the same work or work of equal value. For the purposes of monitoring pursuant to Article 29, the information shall be made available without restriction.
Social dialogue
Without prejudice to the autonomy of the social partners and in accordance with national law and practice, Member States shall take adequate measures to ensure the effective involvement of the social partners, by means of discussing the rights and obligations laid down in this Directive, where applicable upon their request.
Member States shall, without prejudice to the autonomy of the social partners and taking into account the diversity of national practices, take adequate measures to promote the role of the social partners and encourage the exercise of the right to collective bargaining on measures to tackle pay discrimination and its adverse impact on the valuation of jobs predominantly carried out by workers of one sex.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
