The Council of the EU and the European Parliament are preparing for the third round of inter-institutional negotiations on Thursday 27 October on the directive on equal pay for men and women. In a preparatory document obtained by EUROPE, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU assures that the negotiations “are well underway”, but that a compromise still needs to be found, notably on the inclusion of non-binary people and the notion of intersectional discrimination.
Introducing the notion of intersectionality and non-binary people
The European Parliament would like to include a definition and an article dedicated to intersectional discrimination in the directive. The Czech Presidency is reluctantly prepared to recognise “that intersectional discrimination can have a negative effect on gender pay gap” by including it in the list of discriminations, but refuses to place any obligation on it.
Similarly, the European Parliament calls for non-binary people, who do not identify themselves as exclusively female or male, to be protected by the directive. The institution believes that companies in a country where these are legally recognised should be able to take this into account and “compare the pay of non-binary people with the pay of men”. The Presidency considers that this would be “a major departure from the initial aim of this legislative proposal”, but again suggests including a reference while excluding obligations.
Reporting of data
In addition, the European Parliament proposes a staircase system for reporting obligations: companies with more than 250 employees should provide their pay every year, those with 50-250 employees every 2 years and those with less than 50 employees could provide this information on a voluntary basis. The Presidency is open to discussion, provided that the exceptions for micro and small enterprises are maintained.
On the draft directive, proposed by the European Commission in early 2021, the EU Council adopted its position (‘general approach agreement’) in December 2021 (see EUROPE 12847/3), and the Parliament in April 2022 (see EUROPE 12927/10).
To read the preparation document: https://aeur.eu/f/3r3 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)