Today, a political agreement was reached on the “Pay Transparency” directive. The European bill, led by Samira Rafaela as chief negotiator, includes binding measures to achieve equal appreciation for equal work.
MEP Samira Rafaela: “This is the most modern, inclusive European legislation to date. For the first time, intersectional discrimination is taken into account, and can be included as an aggravating circumstance in law. Non-binary persons are also explicitly included in European legislation for the first time. So this law is for everyone.”
The new law ensures that every employee has the right to request information about the average salary level of colleagues in the same job group, and may also inquire about the objective gender-neutral criteria on which the salary of the job group is based. Applicants also receive information about the salary level they are applying for in the last round of their application procedure. Employers are no longer allowed to ask for the most recent salary.
Samira: “Thanks to this law, employees have access to the right information to assess whether they are being paid fairly. If it is found that this is not the case, they have a strong legal position to obtain justice.”
With the new law, companies are obliged to report on the gender pay gap within their organization. Companies with more than 250 employees do this every year, companies between 150 and 249 every three years. The companies under 100 employees are allowed to do this voluntarily and are encouraged to do so in this legislation. This report is made transparent and published, so that everyone can see how companies are doing when it comes to the pay gap within the organization. Companies that are doing well stand out, and companies that are not yet there are given the chance and opportunity to realize this in the short term.
When a pay gap of 5% and higher is observed, companies are obliged to take corrective measures. The Member States have the power to issue fines in the event of structural abuses.