The 2026 EU floor and the national-law check
Pay transparency is now part of the European equal-pay framework, but it is not one identical salary-disclosure system in every country. Directive (EU) 2023/970 required all 27 EU countries to transpose its minimum rules by 7 June 2026. Those rules are designed to reveal and correct unjustified differences between women and men doing equal work or work of equal value. National laws can go further, and the form, deadlines, evidence route and enforcement body must be checked in the country where the employment relationship sits.
Salary ranges and pay-history questions before hiring
For a job applicant, the most immediate change is timing. The employer must provide the initial pay or its range, based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, in the vacancy notice, before the interview or otherwise early enough to support an informed and transparent negotiation. The directive does not force every country to put a number in every advert, but it does prevent the real salary from being withheld until the end of a long recruitment process.
An employer must not ask about the applicant's pay history from current or previous employment. That rule matters because using an old salary as the anchor can carry an earlier discriminatory gap into the next job. Applicants can still discuss their expectations and relevant experience, while employers can explain the lawful range and the factors that place a role within it. National law should also require vacancy notices and job titles to be gender-neutral and recruitment to be conducted without discrimination.
What workers can ask to see
The directive does not create a general right to know every colleague's individual salary. Once employed, a worker can request written information about their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work or work of equal value. Employers must provide the information within a reasonable period and in any event within two months under the directive's floor. Privacy protections can require the information to pass through worker representatives, an equality body or another competent authority where a category is so small that a person could be identified.
Workers must be told annually that the information right exists and how to use it. They must also have easy access to the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression. Member states may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the obligation to make pay-progression criteria available, but not from the directive's core equal-pay principle. Criteria should be objective and gender-neutral and may include skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions, plus other factors relevant to the particular job.
Pay, equal work and work of equal value
Pay is broader than basic salary. For this framework it can include ordinary base pay and complementary or variable components provided directly or indirectly in cash or in kind because of employment. Bonuses, allowances, benefits and other components therefore matter when comparing roles. A comparison that examines only the monthly base while one group systematically receives larger bonuses may miss the real difference.
Equal work is the simpler comparison; work of equal value is the more powerful one. Two jobs do not need the same title or sit in the same team to deserve equal pay. National systems must support comparisons using non-discriminatory criteria such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions, and relevant soft skills must not be undervalued. The directive also allows a comparator from another establishment where one source sets the pay conditions, and in defined cases uses a hypothetical comparator or other evidence where no real comparator exists.
The right is about sex-based pay discrimination, not a promise that everyone in a similar role receives exactly the same amount. Differences may be lawful when supported by objective, gender-neutral factors consistently applied—for example relevant experience, performance, responsibility, scarcity premiums or location where those factors genuinely explain the outcome. The employer needs to be able to show the structure and justification rather than relying on vague claims such as negotiation style or an unexplained historical practice.
Pay secrecy and the reporting calendar
Pay-secrecy clauses cannot be used to stop workers disclosing their pay for the purpose of enforcing equal pay. That does not turn all payroll data into public information or remove duties of confidentiality toward other people. It means a contract cannot silence a worker from discussing their own remuneration when doing so is connected to the equal-pay right. National implementation determines the practical boundaries and any broader protection for salary discussion.
Large employers face a separate reporting calendar. Employers with 250 or more workers must report specified gender pay-gap data by 7 June 2027 and annually afterwards. Those with 150 to 249 workers report by that date and every three years. Employers with 100 to 149 workers begin by 7 June 2031 and report every three years. Countries can impose earlier, more frequent or broader reporting, including on organisations below 100 workers.
The report is not one headline number. It includes mean and median gender pay gaps, gaps in variable or complementary components, the proportions receiving those components, the distribution of women and men by pay quartile, and gaps within categories of workers. Workers and representatives can request clarifications and details. A company-wide gap can signal occupational segregation or seniority patterns, while a category-level gap helps test whether comparable work is paid differently; neither number by itself proves or disproves an individual claim.
The 5% joint-assessment trigger
A joint pay assessment is triggered for an employer covered by reporting when a category shows at least a 5% average difference between women and men, the employer cannot justify it with objective gender-neutral criteria, and it is not remedied within six months of reporting. The employer and worker representatives then examine the category, causes and corrective measures together. Five per cent is therefore a trigger for this structured assessment, not a permitted discrimination margin below which equal-pay law disappears.
Compensation, proof and protection from retaliation
Enforcement is meant to be usable. A person who suffered equal-pay discrimination must be able to obtain full compensation, including back pay and related bonuses or payments in kind, plus compensation for lost opportunities and non-material damage where national law provides it. The directive removes a predetermined compensation ceiling and shifts the burden of proof to the employer once a claimant establishes facts from which discrimination can be presumed. A failure to meet transparency duties can itself affect that burden.
Limitation periods cannot start before the worker knows or can reasonably be expected to know of the infringement, and they are suspended or interrupted during specified procedures under national implementation. Courts or competent authorities must be able to order disclosure of relevant evidence, including confidential material subject to safeguards. Equality bodies, worker representatives and qualifying associations can support or act for a worker where national law and the worker's approval allow it.
Retaliation is prohibited. Workers and their representatives must be protected from dismissal or other adverse treatment because they exercised equal-pay rights or supported another person. If you are considering a request, preserve the vacancy notice, offer, contract, job description, pay statements, bonus rules, performance criteria, emails and the dates of every information request. Use a calm written record rather than relying only on conversations.
Cross-border work and a practical request
For cross-border work, start with the employer and law that govern the employment relationship. Free movement gives EU citizens equal treatment in access to work, while a temporary posting can add host-country remuneration rules; the posted-worker guide explains that separate layer. Pay transparency does not decide tax residence, social-security coverage, collective-agreement classification or professional recognition, so keep those checks separate.
The practical first step is to find the national implementing law and enforcement route. Ask human resources or the employer for the written pay range or criteria; if already employed, make a dated information request that identifies your role and asks for your pay level plus the sex-disaggregated average for the relevant category. A trade union, worker representative, labour inspectorate or equality body can help identify the correct comparison and remedy. The European Commission's directive and explanation describe the common floor, but a national portal tells you where to file.
Why transparency strengthens one labour market
Pay transparency makes a European right visible before and during employment. It cannot by itself remove occupational segregation, unequal care burdens or every biased evaluation. It does give applicants and workers facts that were previously easy to hide, and gives employers a reason to build defensible pay structures before a dispute begins. A common European labour market is more credible when moving for work does not mean negotiating inside a black box.