The European directive of May 10, 2023 on pay transparency must be transposed into French law by June 7, 2026. This directive sets minimum requirements to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay between women and men for the same work or for work of equal value. These requirements, which will bring major changes to the design and implementation of pay policies, are formulated precisely enough to allow companies to anticipate their application.
What is Pay Transparency?
To reduce the pay gap between women and men for the same work, the directive requires companies with at least 100 employees to be more transparent about the information communicated to employees and/or potential candidates regarding pay. The gender pay gap is defined as the difference between the average pay levels of female employees and male employees of an employer, expressed as a percentage of the average pay level of male employees.
Transparency in recruitment
Job applicants will have the right to receive from the potential employer information on the initial pay or its range, based on objective, non-discriminatory criteria corresponding to the position concerned. This will ensure informed and transparent negotiations on pay.
The employer will not be allowed to ask job applicants about their pay history during their current or previous employment relationships.
The right of employees to precise information on their pay
The employer must make available to employees the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels, and pay progression.
Employees will have the right to request information on their individual pay level and on the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of employees performing the same work. This information must be provided in writing within two months.
The employer must also inform employees of the existence of this right to information every year, in writing.
It will also be prohibited to include clauses in employment contracts preventing workers from disclosing information about their pay. This information must be shared by the employer in compliance with GDPR*.
*(RGPD – Règlement Général sur la Protection des Données in French).
Evolution of the professional equality index
The professional equality index will evolve, notably with the inclusion of new indicators. The principle of publishing results and informing/consulting employee representatives will be maintained. Transmission of the new indicators should be possible via the DSN*.
*The DSN (Déclaration Sociale Nominative) is an online declaration produced each month based on payroll records. You enter information about each of your employees. It is used to pay your social security contributions and to send data about your employees to social security agencies.
Sanctions
In addition to stronger sanctions that may be imposed by the administration, non-compliance by an employer with obligations on pay transparency (recruitment, information on pay levels, and the professional equality index) will have a major impact on pay discrimination disputes: the employee will no longer need to present evidence suggesting discrimination.
The burden of proof will be completely reversed: it will be up to the employer to prove the absence of discrimination. An employer who fails to comply with pay transparency obligations will therefore be in a very weak position in the event of a dispute concerning pay discrimination.
Reminder: pay transparency in current litigation
Even before the directive, the French Court of Cassation already allows judges to order employers to disclose the payslips of colleagues of an employee claiming unequal pay (Cass. Soc. March 8, 2023, n°21-12.492). In the context of a dispute, it is therefore sufficient for the employee to claim inequality to obtain the forced disclosure of colleagues’ payslips. The judge must nevertheless ensure that this disclosure respects the principle of data minimization, by ordering the redaction of non-essential information and limiting the use of the data to the case at hand (Cass. Soc. November 3, 2024, n°21-20.979).
How to prepare for its implementation?
Although the timetable for adoption of the law is currently disrupted by governmental instability, preliminary work, including consultation with social partners, began in May 2025. It is likely that the future Minister of Labor will aim for adoption before the June 7, 2026, deadline.
To avoid the effects of rushed compliance or the revelation of unjustified pay gaps, companies are advised to prepare for pay transparency as early as the beginning of 2026.
To effectively anticipate the directive’s entry into force, companies can already take several structural actions:
- Audit existing pay policies to identify possible gaps and implement corrective measures, if necessary,
- Define objective, neutral, and non-discriminatory criteria for determining pay and its progression, as well as pay levels within the company,
- Identify relevant pay comparison panels, in line with collective bargaining classifications, to be ready to respond to information requests.
