In the middle of last year, the European Commission adopted new regulations, commonly known as the Pay Transparency Directive. This name only narrowly refers to the actual content of this legal act. Its introduction should be linked to strengthening the principle of equal pay for men and women.
Pay transparency before employment
The biggest change we'll be seeing is the introduction of the right to receive information from a prospective employer about starting salary or its range (so-called salary brackets). This solution is intended to minimize gender disparities in the recruitment process. On the other hand, it will undoubtedly lead to greater transparency in the market and, at the same time, significantly save time for job seekers (they'll know in advance which positions to reject and which ones they can consider).
The directive stipulates that salary information should be provided in a manner that ensures informed and transparent salary negotiations. For example, it should be published in the vacancy notice or prior to the interview.
It's worth remembering that this change doesn't mean that salary ranges will appear in job advertisements—it merely means that employees will be required to be informed of the expected salary for a given position before the actual recruitment process begins. This issue will be regulated in detail in the act that will implement this Directive into Polish law.
Employer's information obligations
In addition to the above, an interesting change that will need to be implemented is the obligation to provide employees with easy access to the criteria used to determine their pay, as well as its levels and progression. Member states will be able to exempt employers with fewer than 50 employees from this obligation regarding pay progression.
The above therefore concerns in practice the obligation to indicate the issues that the employer takes into account when determining or increasing remuneration.
Additionally, employees will be given another weapon in the fight against unequal pay: the right to request and receive written information regarding their individual and average pay levels. This is intended to provide employees with information about their position on the pay scale for a specific position.
The most surprising and revolutionary change, however, seems to be the ban on contract terms that prevent employees from disclosing their salary information. It seems that it's standard practice for every employer to include clauses prohibiting the disclosure of salary information in their contracts – this will have to change, and employees will begin to have the ability to share this information with each other.
When and how will changes be implemented?
All of the above changes, along with many others, will be implemented by Polish law. Many regulations may change their shape in this context, while simultaneously achieving the EU legislator's goal. However, we can only wait and see how the draft legislation is implemented. The deadline for implementing the Directive through internal regulations is June 7, 2026. Therefore, we are facing far-reaching changes to labor law.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of February 15, 2024
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