European Commission: proposal for a directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms

Date of publication

4 March 2021

Available language

Allemand | English | Français

Country/countries concerned

European Union

Categories

Legislation

On 4 March, with a view to ensuring that “women and men are paid equally for the same work”, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a directive which “aims at laying down minimum requirements strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay between men and women and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex through c and reinforced enforcement mechanisms” (Article 1) (see press release and Questions and Answers published by the Commission). This directive would apply to both the private and public sectors and to all workers who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the case-law of the Court of Justice (Article 2). It includes a number of measures, such as: 1/ A revision of pay structures to ensure “that women and men are paid equally for the same work or work of equal value” to help employers to better “categorize and remunerate job positions based on objective, gender-neutral criteria” (Article 4). 2/ A provision requiring employers to indicate in advance the pay level on offer for the position concerned (Article 5). 3/ A right to request information “on their individual pay level and on the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers doing the same work or work of equal value” (Article 7). 4/ Companies with at least 250 employees will have to publish a report on data relating to the gender pay gap, based on seven criteria (Article 8). 5/ A joint pay assessment will have to be performed in conjunction with employee representatives in cases where the pay gap ratio shows a difference in average pay of at least 5% between female and male workers, across all categories of workers (Article 9). 6/ A reversal of the burden of proof will be imposed if the employer has not implemented the above obligations. In this case, “it shall be for the employer to prove that there has been no such discrimination.” 7/ Improved enforcement mechanisms and easier access to justice. 8/ Compliance with obligations linked to the principle of equal pay is required within the framework of public contracts. The proposal will be sent to the Council and to the European Parliament for its first reading.

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