Finally a real breakthrough in the fight against wage inequality? This Thursday, March 30, the European Parliament adopted a directive intended to oblige employers in European Union countries to be transparent. The target : better compare the salaries of men and women and provide for fines in case of wage discrimination.
Widely adopted by MEPs (427 votes in favour, 79 against and 76 abstentions), these new rules have yet to be validated by the Council of Europe, as reported by theFrench media agency.
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“ Equal pay for equal work. And for equal pay, transparency is needed. Women need to know if their employers are treating them fairly. And when they don’t, they need to be able to fight back and get what they deserve. said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
A “forbidden salary secret”
From now on, in companies with at least 100 employees, employers will be required to publish information on the gender pay gap on a regular basis. If a discrepancy of at least 5% is observed and the employer cannot justify it, the latter must carry out a salary assessment in cooperation with the employee representatives.
Thus, female workers and their representatives will also have the right to ask the employer for information on individual and average wage levels, broken down by gender, the European Parliament said in a statement, adding that “ salary secrecy will be prohibited »
Read also: Wage inequality: in France, women earn on average 15.8% less than men
Once adopted by the Council, the directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication in Official newspaperand Member States will have to transpose the new elements into national law within three years.
Women earn on average 13% less per hour than men for the same job in the EU, according to Commission statistics for 2020. This gap is only 0.7% in Luxembourg, but reaches 15. 8% in France, 18.3% in Germany, and rises to 22.3% in Latvia.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
