The EU Pay Transparency Directive, kept as living evidence.
Transposition deadline 7 June 2026. Pay-gap reports phase in by employer size — but the recruitment and information duties apply far sooner. Adherely tracks what applies to you and holds the evidence to prove it.
Reviewed June 2026 · sourced to EUR-Lex 2023/970
Who reports, and when
| Employer size | First report | Then |
|---|---|---|
| 250+ employees | 7 June 2027 | Annually |
| 150–249 employees | 7 June 2027 | Every 3 years |
| 100–149 employees | 7 June 2031 | Every 3 years |
| Under 100 employees | No EU-mandated report | Member States may extend |
Reporting size-bands are only part of it. The duties below apply to employers broadly from national transposition — regardless of headcount.
What the directive asks of an employer
Pay transparency in recruitment
Candidates get the starting pay or range before the interview, and you can’t ask about their pay history.
Right to information
Employees can request their pay level and the average levels, broken down by sex, for work of equal value — answered within two months.
Gender pay-gap reporting
In-scope employers report gender pay-gap metrics on the schedule above.
Joint pay assessment
Triggered by an unjustified gap of at least 5% in a category of workers that isn’t corrected within six months.
Gender-neutral job evaluation
Pay structures and job-classification criteria must be objective and sex-neutral.
Salary-history ban
A standing policy: no asking candidates about prior pay.
The evidence is your defence.
The directive shifts the burden of proof. In equal-pay proceedings (Art. 18(2)), where a worker establishes the facts, it falls to the employer to show there was no discrimination — and an employer without documented, gender-neutral pay criteria is on the back foot.
That makes a maintained, current register — your criteria, your evidence, your audit trail — the thing you actually produce when challenged. Adherely keeps it living and turns it into review-ready drafts.
Primary sources
We cite primary sources and date-stamp them — the same currency the product is built to maintain.
See it on your own obligations
Join the design-partner cohort and we’ll map your Pay Transparency obligations and evidence together — charter pricing, no charge during validation.
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