For years, asking what a colleague earns has been awkward at best and forbidden by contract at worst. The EU’s pay transparency directive changes that. It gives job seekers the right to see a salary range before an interview, gives workers the right to find out how their pay compares with colleagues doing similar work, and makes larger employers publish their gender pay gap.
The catch is timing. Every EU country had to turn the directive into national law by 7 June 2026, and most missed the deadline. Whether you can use these rights today depends on where you work. This guide explains the seven rights the pay transparency directive creates, which countries apply them already, and how to use them.
Table of Contents
What the pay transparency directive is
The law is Directive (EU) 2023/970, adopted in May 2023. Its aim is to enforce a principle that has been in the EU treaties since 1957: men and women must receive equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. The principle has been law for decades, but a gender pay gap in double figures has persisted across the EU, partly because workers rarely know what others earn and cannot prove unequal treatment.
The directive tackles that information problem. It applies to employers in both the public and private sectors, and it covers everyone with an employment contract or relationship, including part-time, fixed-term and agency workers.
“Pay” is defined broadly. It includes basic salary and any other benefit you receive because of your job, in cash or in kind, such as bonuses, overtime pay, allowances and company cars.
“Work of equal value” is judged on objective criteria: the skills a job requires, the effort, the responsibility and the working conditions. Two jobs with different titles can still be of equal value, which matters in workplaces where roles done mostly by women are labelled differently from similar roles done mostly by men.
Seven rights the pay transparency directive gives you
1. A salary range before the interview
Employers must tell job applicants the starting pay or its salary range for the position, based on objective and gender-neutral criteria. This has to happen before the job interview, either in the job advert or in another way. You also have to be told which collective agreement applies, if there is one.
In practice this means no more going through three rounds of interviews only to discover the salary range is far below what you need.
2. No questions about your pay history
Employers may no longer ask candidates what they earned in current or previous jobs. Basing an offer on past pay tends to carry old inequalities into a new job, which is why the practice is banned. You can still choose to share your pay history, but you cannot be pressured into it.
3. Gender-neutral job adverts and hiring
Job titles and adverts must be gender-neutral, and the recruitment process must be non-discriminatory. This is the least visible change for candidates, but it gives you something to point to if an advert clearly aims at one sex.
4. Access to the criteria behind pay and promotions
Employers must make easily accessible to workers the criteria they use to set pay, pay levels and pay progression. The criteria must be objective and gender-neutral. Countries may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the part about pay progression, but not from the rest.
5. The right to ask how your pay compares
This is the change most workers will notice. You can ask your employer, in writing, for information about:
- your own individual pay level;
- the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work as you or work of equal value.
The employer must answer within a reasonable period and no later than two months. You can make the request yourself or through a workers’ representative or equality body. Employers must also remind all workers of this right once a year.
The answer will not tell you what a named colleague earns. It gives averages for your category, split by sex. That is usually enough to see whether there is a gap worth asking about.
6. Freedom to talk about your pay
Contract terms that stop you from disclosing your pay are no longer allowed for the purpose of enforcing equal pay. You can tell a colleague what you earn, and they can tell you, without breaching your contract.
7. Stronger protection if you challenge unequal pay
If you bring an equal pay claim, the burden of proof shifts to the employer once you show facts suggesting discrimination. An employer that has not met its transparency obligations will find it harder to defend itself. Workers who win are entitled to full compensation, including back pay and related bonuses, and the time limit for bringing a claim must be at least three years. You are also protected against dismissal or other unfavourable treatment for using these rights.
What employers must report about the gender pay gap
Larger employers must publish data on their gender pay gap, including the gap in average and median pay, the gap in bonuses, and the share of men and women in each quarter of the pay scale. The first reports are due in 2027:
- **250 or more workers:** every year, starting by 7 June 2027 (covering 2026).
- **150 to 249 workers:** every three years, starting by 7 June 2027.
- **100 to 149 workers:** every three years, starting by 7 June 2031.
If a report shows a gender pay gap of at least 5% in any category of workers that the employer cannot justify with objective, gender-neutral reasons, and it does not fix the gap within six months, it must carry out a joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives and put things right.
Employers with fewer than 100 workers do not have to report, although countries can choose to require it. They still have to meet the other obligations, such as giving salary ranges to candidates and answering information requests.
Where the pay transparency directive applies in 2026
This is the part that changes month by month. At the time of writing, in late September 2026, the picture is as follows:
- **In force on time:** Italy, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia passed their laws by the 7 June 2026 deadline. Lithuania is introducing some obligations in stages.
- **Passed after the deadline:** Greece adopted its law in July 2026, with obligations applying from 1 November 2026.
- **Aiming for 1 January 2027:** the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and the Czech Republic have said their rules should start on that date.
- **Still in progress:** France, Germany, Ireland and Belgium, among others, had not finished their laws. Belgium formally asked the European Commission for a six-month extension. France amended its draft law again in September 2026.
- **Little visible activity:** countries such as Hungary and Croatia had published no draft law.
Late countries face infringement proceedings, which the European Commission can open against any member state that fails to transpose a directive on time. That puts pressure on governments but does not give you rights against your employer by itself.
There is one exception to keep in mind. Under a long-standing principle of EU law, clear and unconditional parts of a directive can sometimes be relied on against the state, including public-sector employers, once the deadline has passed, even if national law is missing. This does not work against private companies. If you work in the public sector in a country that has not yet acted, a trade union or employment lawyer can tell you whether it helps in your case.
The United Kingdom is outside the EU and is not bound by the pay transparency directive. Its existing gender pay gap reporting for employers with 250 or more staff continues.
How to use your right to pay information
If your country has brought the rules into force, a short written request is enough. Something like this works:
“Under [the national law implementing Directive (EU) 2023/970], I request information about my individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers performing the same work as me or work of equal value. Please reply within two months.”
Send it by email so you have a dated record. Keep your tone neutral: the request is a right, not an accusation, and many employers will handle it routinely once the rules settle in.
When you get the answer, compare your pay with the average for your sex and for the other sex in your category. If there is a clear gap that you cannot explain by experience, performance or other objective factors, the next steps are usually:
- Ask your employer, in writing, to explain the difference.
- Talk to your workers’ representative or trade union, if you have one.
- Contact the national equality body, which can advise you and in some countries act on your behalf.
- Consider a formal claim, keeping in mind the time limit of at least three years.
How to use the salary range rule when job hunting
Where the rules apply, you can expect the salary range in the job advert or before the first interview. If it is missing, asking for it is reasonable and now backed by law. Use it to decide whether to apply at all, and in negotiation, anchor your ask within or at the top of the range rather than on your current salary.
If a recruiter asks what you earn now, you can decline and say what salary you are looking for instead. In countries where the directive is in force, the employer is not allowed to insist.
What employers should do now
Even where national law is late, the direction is clear and the first gender pay gap reports are due in June 2027. Sensible preparation includes:
- grouping jobs into categories of equal work or work of equal value using objective criteria;
- writing down the criteria used for pay and pay progression;
- adding a salary range to job adverts and removing pay history questions from application forms;
- checking contracts for pay secrecy clauses;
- running an internal gender pay gap analysis now, so any unexplained gaps can be fixed before the first report.
Employers with staff in several EU countries face a patchwork of national laws for the next year or two, so it pays to build one approach that meets the strictest version.
How it builds on existing national rules
Some countries were already part of the way there, which is why the change will feel bigger in some places than in others.
- **Austria** has required job adverts to state the minimum pay under the relevant collective agreement since 2011, and to say whether more may be paid.
- **Germany** has had a pay transparency act since 2017. Workers in organisations with more than 200 employees can already ask about the pay of comparable colleagues of the other sex, but the new rules go further, cover smaller employers and are easier to use.
- **France** has required companies with 50 or more employees to publish a gender equality index since 2019.
- **Spain** has required employers to keep a pay register, broken down by sex, since 2021.
In these countries the pay transparency directive tightens and extends existing duties. In countries with no such rules, such as many in central and eastern Europe, a salary range in every job advert and a legal right to compare pay are new.
A worked example
To see how the pieces fit together, take a hypothetical case. A software tester works for a company with 300 staff in a country where the rules are in force. She has heard that pay in her team varies a lot, so she sends a written request for information.
Within two months the employer replies. It gives her own pay and the average pay for testers and for roles judged to be of equal value, split by sex. The figures show that the men in her category earn on average 9% more, and she cannot see an explanation in experience or responsibility.
She asks the employer to explain the difference. Because the company has more than 250 workers, it will also have to report its gender pay gap each year, and a gap of 5% or more in a category that it cannot justify triggers a joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives. If the employer cannot justify the gap, it has to correct it. If she brings a claim, it is the employer that has to show the difference is not discriminatory.
None of this required her to know what any named colleague earns.
Common misunderstandings
- **It does not set salaries.** Employers still decide pay. The rules require the reasons to be objective, gender-neutral and visible.
- **It does not publish individual salaries.** Workers see their own pay and category averages; the public sees company-level gender pay gap figures.
- **It does not cover genuine self-employment.** The rights apply to people in an employment relationship, including agency workers, not to independent contractors running their own business.
- **Different pay is not automatically illegal.** Differences based on objective factors, such as experience or performance, applied equally to men and women, remain allowed.
Key dates at a glance
- **May 2023:** the pay transparency directive is adopted.
- **7 June 2026:** deadline for EU countries to bring it into national law.
- **7 June 2027:** first gender pay gap reports from employers with 150 or more workers.
- **7 June 2031:** first reports from employers with 100 to 149 workers.
Frequently asked questions
Does the pay transparency directive apply to small companies?
Most of it does. Salary ranges for candidates, the ban on pay history questions and the right to pay information apply to all employers. Gender pay gap reporting starts at 100 workers, and countries may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from publishing pay progression criteria.
Can I find out exactly what a colleague earns?
Not through the directive. You get your own pay level and the average pay for your category, split by sex. You are, however, free to share pay information with colleagues, and they with you.
Does it only cover gender?
The directive is about equal pay between men and women. The data it produces may show other patterns, but the legal rights it creates concern pay discrimination on grounds of sex.
My country missed the deadline. Do I have any rights now?
Your existing national equal pay rights still apply. Public-sector workers may be able to rely on some clear provisions of the directive directly. For everyone else, the new rights start when national law takes effect.
When will I see gender pay gap figures for my employer?
For employers with 150 or more workers, the first reports are due by 7 June 2027, where national law is in place by then.
Pay transparency is one part of a wider debate about how work is organised. If you are interested in another, our look at the four-day working week covers what trials in the UK found.
