EU Pay Transparency Directive – employers should prepare for implementation now

Initial announcements suggest that a government bill transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive into Polish legislation should appear by the end of 2025. The EU Member States are required to transpose the relevant provisions by 7 June 2026. However, they may introduce provisions that are more favourable to workers than those stipulated in the Directive.

Please note that the first reading of the parliamentary bill amending the Labour Code (form 934) was held at the Sejm's session on 6 February 2025. The amendment aims to introduce the pay transparency principle to apply both during employment and before entering into an employment relationship. According to the bill, the employer will not be able to prohibit or otherwise prevent workers from disclosing information about their pay. However, the bill does not address all the obligations imposed on employers by the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

Under current legislation, employers in Poland – like other employers across the European Union – are already required to ensure that workers get equal pay for equal work or work of equal value.

Given the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value that is binding on employers, and only a short time remaining to implement the new EU pay transparency rules – employers should take now a closer look at the job evaluation methods and remuneration policies used in their organisations.

The goal of the Directive is to:

• eliminate the gender pay gap;
• strengthen the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value
• eliminate pay discrimination in the public and private sector by improving pay transparency.[KG1] 

All workers will have the right to be informed in writing about:

• their individual pay level,

• the average level of pay for equal work or work of equal value,
• the criteria used to determine the pay level.

The Directive requires employers to:

• submit reports on the pay gap in their organisation to workers, their representatives or competent bodies,
• and to assess the pay jointly with the workers' representatives whenever the pay gap is at least 5%.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive contains provisions on pay transparency prior to employment. Accordingly, job applicants will be able to receive information, determined on the basis of objective criteria, about the initial pay, or its range, applicable in a given position, yet before the job interview.

At the same time, the employer will not have the right to ask job applicants about their current or previous pay.

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After the Directive is transposed into national law, workers who have sustained damage as a result of an infringement of the principle of equal pay, will have the right to claim full compensation or reparation, as determined by the Member State, for that damage.

Moreover, employers infringing the rights and obligations relating to the principle of equal pay will be liable to a fine.​​