European firms will have to act on gender pay gap
Women in business - Photo by Yan Krukov on Pexels
(BRUSSELS) - New legislation adopted Thursday by the EU Parliament will require EU companies to disclose information that makes it easier for employees to compare salaries and to expose existing gender pay gaps.
Despite the principle of equal pay being laid down in EU treaties, the gender pay gap across the European Union has decreased only minimally over the last ten years, persisting around 13%, with significant variations among member states.
Under the rules, pay structures to compare pay levels will have to be based on gender-neutral criteria and include gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems. Vacancy notices and job titles will have to be gender neutral and recruitment processes led in a non-discriminatory manner.
If pay reporting shows a gender pay gap of at least 5%, employers will have to conduct a joint pay assessment in cooperation with their workers' representatives. Member states will have to put in place effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, such as fines, for employers that infringe the rules. A worker who has suffered harm as a result of an infringement will have the right to claim compensation. For the first time, intersectional discrimination and the rights of non-binary persons have been included in the scope of the new rules.
The rules stipulate that workers and workers' representatives will have the right to receive clear and complete information on individual and average pay levels, broken down by gender. Pay secrecy will be banned; there should be no contractual terms that restrict workers from disclosing their pay, or from seeking information about the same or other categories of workers' pay.
On pay-related issues, the burden of proof will shift from the worker to the employer. In cases where a worker feels that the principle of equal pay has not been applied and takes the case to court, national legislation should oblige the employer to prove that there has been no discrimination.
Further information, European Parliament