The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a directive intended to compel employers in the EU to be transparent in order to guarantee equal pay between women and men, providing for fines in the event of wage discrimination.
Women earn 13% less per hour than men for the same work on average in the EU, according to Commission statistics for 2020. This gap is only 0.7% in Luxembourg but climbs to 15, 8% in France, 18.3% in Germany, and up to 22.3% in Latvia.
The new rules, resulting from a proposal from the European Commission in March 2021 and which will still have to be ratified by the Council (Member States), should make it possible to better compare the remuneration of men and women. They were widely adopted by MEPs (427 votes for, 79 against and 76 abstentions).
” Equal pay for equal work. And for equal pay, you need transparency. Women need to know if their employers are treating them fairly. And when they don’t, they must be able to defend themselves and get what they deserve,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Employees and their representatives will have the right to ask the employer for clear and complete information on individual and average pay levels, broken down by gender, the European Parliament said in a statement, adding that “wage secrecy will be prohibited”.
Where there are at least 100 employees in the workforce, these employers will be required to regularly publish information on the gender pay gap. If a discrepancy of at least 5% is observed, which the employer cannot objectively justify, the latter must carry out a salary assessment in cooperation with the staff representatives.
Member States will have to put in place effective sanctions, such as fines, for employers who break the rules. A victim of discrimination will have the right to claim compensation. Finally, Parliament stresses that if an employee considers that the principle of equal pay has not been applied and takes the matter to court, it will be up to the employer to prove that there is no had no discrimination.
Once adopted by the Council, the directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal, and member states will have to transpose the new elements into their national law within three years.