The deadline for transposing the EU Equal Pay Directive 2023/970 expires on June 7, 2026. However, the Polish transposition act, which partially implements the Directive, has already passed the entire legislative process and has been signed by the President.
The Directive is intended to ensure a more complete and secure enforcement of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and woman through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms.
The initial drafts of the Polish bill were broader than the final act and were intended to impose a wider range of employers’ obligations. However, in the course of legislative process, it was decided to limit its scope and leave certain topics for future regulation.
The Polish act establishes additional obligations for employers, mainly in the recruitment processes. It aims to reduce the disparity of power between employer and employee in this process, so that the candidate, as a “weaker” party, has a solid basis and the necessary information to successfully negotiate financial conditions of their employment contract.
The Polish act introduces several important amendments to the Polish Labour Code, in particular employers:
- will be required to inform job applicants (early enough to allow the candidate to consider it) of the proposed salary or salary range and any relevant provisions of applicable collective agreements or remuneration regulations. Such information must be provided in the job advertisement, or – if there is no advertisement – prior to the job interview. If neither is conducted, the information must be delivered before concluding the employment contract;
- must maintain gender-neutral job titles and job advertisements;
- will not be able to ask about the candidate’s previous salary.
The directive also imposes other obligations than those transposed by the new act, such as for example obligation to report data on the gender pay gap or to carry out pay assessments to ensure equal pay.
The article was prepared by att. Monika Aniszewska and trainee Aleksander Żebrowski from our Polish member firm Zawirska Ruszczyk.
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