New equal pay legislation, which will come into effect on 7 June 2026, represents a fundamental shift for employers from passive compliance with anti-discrimination rules to an active obligation to demonstrate pay justice. As current legislation did not provide employees with sufficient tools to check their rights, the state is introducing a comprehensive transparency system that requires precise internal process settings, categorisation of jobs according to their value, and regular reporting. For companies, this means the necessity of reviewing not only payroll records but also overall personnel documentation and recruitment procedures, in order to avoid the risk of high penalties and the shifted burden of proof.
Finally, another important piece of information that may be key for many. This time, the legislator has left nothing to chance and the difference in remuneration will not be derived from wages but from reward. Reward includes the basic component of wages, minimum wage, but also additional components that the employer provides at their discretion. This will prevent pretending that employees of the same category have the same gross wage and camouflaging differences through additional components. Penalties are high, which is precisely why a well-structured remuneration system is necessary. Do not forget that the system is uncompromising: reversed burden of proof, retrospective payment of the difference in remuneration, and penalties.
| Work Categorisation | You have employees divided into categories according to job value and not just by job title |
| Wage structure | Are your salary criteria (complexity, responsibility, etc.) documented and gender-neutral? |
| Recruitment audit | Do your advertisements include a starting salary and are they gender-neutral? |
| HR Preparation: | Are HR staff trained not to ask about previous salary? |
| Contract review | Have you removed invalid wage secrecy clauses from employment contracts? |
| Transparency | Do you have an internal process in place to respond to written employee requests for payroll data within 2 months? |
| Reporting | Do you know when exactly you submit your first report to the ministry based on your number of employees? |
