The Member States’ deputy ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper 1) on Wednesday 21 December approved the compromise text on the pay transparency Directive. This was agreed after five rounds of interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13085/12).
The compromise text agreed between Parliament and the EU Council at the end of the negotiations, which EUROPE was able to obtain, specifies in particular the future obligations for companies in terms of data communication. As announced, all employers will have to make available to their employees a description of the gender-neutral criteria used to define their remuneration as well as a breakdown on remuneration in the company.
On the other hand, the obligation for companies with more than 100 employees to publish the gender pay gap, which had been the source of disagreement between Parliament and the EU Council, is to be qualified (see EUROPE 13075/22). Employers with at least 250 employees will have to provide this information annually and those with more than 150 employees every 3 years, “no later than 1 year after the date of transposition”. The obligation will only extend to companies with more than 100 employees “by 5 years after the date of transposition”, and then every 3 years.
Furthermore, in order to limit the costs and administrative burden for employers, Member States must provide technical assistance and training to employers of less than 250 workers and to workers’ representatives to enable them to comply with the obligations under the Directive.
Finally, the final text also specifies, among other things, the ways in which pay differentials will be assessed (i.e. between similar jobs and not within the same company), the role of the social partners, the penalties, and the possibility of re-evaluating the criterion on the “tolerated” 5% pay gap.
To read the compromise text: https://aeur.eu/f/4r6 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)