The European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet) had summarised, in a 16 March publication the feedback from its members on the proposed ‘Pay Transparency’ Directive (see EUROPE 13153/13).
Overall, the agencies are satisfied with the powers given to them by the legislation. The enhanced and harmonised access to information on pay discrimination and easier access to justice were particularly welcomed, the publication notes.
However, they are more sceptical about the possibility of becoming monitoring bodies of the directive. Similarly, a majority of them do not want the fines recovered in the case of wage discrimination to be paid back to them.
Monitoring bodies
The organisations thus have contrasting views on their desire to be designated as equal pay monitoring bodies.
Those in favour (almost half) feel that they have the appropriate expertise to carry out the monitoring. While they also have information and awareness-raising skills, the additional collection of data and best practice could enhance their equality-promoting role. This would avoid duplication of structures as well.
The other, more reluctant half, argued that agencies should focus more on access to justice issues. Furthermore, giving this competence to the bodies would relieve the social partners of part of their responsibility.
For them, the task could rather be assigned to the labour inspectorate, national statistical institutes or competent public services. In this case, they should be trained in gender perspectives, they say. An alternative, they argue, could be to divide the tasks: monitoring would be carried out by another institution, while awareness-raising would be done by the Equality Bodies.
However, all the organisations interviewed expressed concern about the additional workload that would result from this new competence. It should therefore be accompanied, they argue, by sufficient human and financial resources.
Allocation of fines
In the original proposal, the directive asked Member States to consider the possibility of fines for non-compliance with the acceptable pay gap being allocated to Equality Bodies. Relegated to recitals in the compromise between the European Parliament and the EU Council, the organisations interviewed by Equinet remain opposed to it.
The central argument is based on the “risk of creating a conflict of interest, or at least the suspicion of it”. In fact, “it could be perceived that an Equality Body has a financial interest in using its pay transparency functions” and that this could be instrumental in undermining the integrity of their work.
Finally, the organisations point out that the directive does not solve the problem of under-reporting of victims of pay discrimination or the misunderstanding of the principle of equal pay by stakeholders. These problems, they say, will “require significant investment in terms of accessibility, education and awareness raising”.
To read the publication: https://aeur.eu/f/6b7 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)