Does the Directive apply to companies outside the EU?+
The Directive binds EU member states, which apply it through their own national laws to employers with employees in that country — regardless of where the company is headquartered. Your specific obligations depend on where your employees are located and how each country has transposed the Directive.
What happens if we don't comply?+
Penalties are set by individual member states under their transposing legislation and can include fines. Employees may also be able to bring claims in national courts. Check your national law for the specific penalty regime.
What counts as a "pay gap" under the Directive?+
The Directive focuses on the gap between average pay for male and female workers doing "work of equal value" — meaning the same or comparable roles, taking into account factors like seniority and experience. It includes base pay, bonuses, and variable components.
Can we use SincHR for the actual regulatory submission?+
SincHR generates reports in the data formats required by the relevant member state authorities. You then submit directly to the relevant national authority. We're working on direct integrations with national portals where APIs are available.
We have fewer than 100 employees — do we need to do anything?+
At the EU baseline, the formal Article 9 reporting obligation applies only to employers with 100+ employees. The pay information rights in Articles 5 and 7 apply more broadly, once your country's transposing law is in force — check your national law for exact scope. Some member states already impose broader duties on smaller employers.
When do the reporting obligations start?+
Member states must transpose the Directive by 7 June 2026. Employers with 250 or more workers report for the first time by 7 June 2027 and then every year; employers with 150–249 workers report by 7 June 2027 and then every three years; employers with 100–149 workers report for the first time by 7 June 2031, then every three years. National laws may set earlier dates or lower thresholds.
What exactly has to be reported?+
The gender pay gap in mean and median terms, the gap in complementary or variable components, the proportion of women and men receiving such components, and the pay gap broken down by categories of workers and by basic pay versus variable components. Part of the report is shared with workers and their representatives, and the employer's management must confirm its accuracy.
What is a joint pay assessment and when is it triggered?+
If a report shows a gender pay gap of at least 5% in any category of workers that cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria and is not remedied within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives: examine the causes, and agree and implement corrective measures.
What can employees ask for under Article 7?+
Any worker may ask, in writing, for their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work or work of equal value. The employer must answer within a reasonable time and at the latest within two months, and must remind workers of this right every year.
Does the Directive change how we recruit?+
Yes. Applicants have the right to know the starting pay or pay range for a position before the interview — for example in the vacancy notice — and employers may no longer ask candidates about their current or previous pay. Vacancy notices and job titles must be gender-neutral.
Can we still ask employees to keep their pay confidential?+
No. Workers cannot be prevented from disclosing their pay for the purpose of enforcing equal pay, and contractual clauses that try to do so are unenforceable. Employers may ask that information obtained through an Article 7 request is used only for that purpose.
Who has to prove what in a pay-discrimination claim?+
Once a worker establishes facts from which discrimination may be presumed, it is for the employer to prove there was none. Where the employer has not met its transparency obligations, the burden of proof shifts to the employer in any case. Keeping evidence of how pay decisions were made is therefore part of compliance.
Do part-time, fixed-term and agency workers count towards the thresholds?+
The Directive applies to all workers with an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by national law, including part-time and fixed-term workers. Headcount is generally assessed per employer (legal entity), but how workers are counted — and whether agency workers count for the user company — is set by the transposing law, so check the national rules.
What counts as "pay"?+
Pay is broad: the ordinary basic wage or salary plus any other consideration in cash or in kind received directly or indirectly — bonuses, overtime, allowances, benefits in kind, occupational pension contributions and similar. That is why pay-gap analysis has to cover variable components, not only base salary.