Pay Transparency
With this directive (2023/970), Europe aims to tackle unfair pay differences and ensure equal pay by increasing transparency.
Read more: "EU Directive on Pay Transparency: these are the 5 requirements"
What is the current status?
This directive was supposed to be incorporated into Belgian law by 7 June. This deadline was missed. There is also no concrete draft legislation yet for the private sector. Furthermore, Belgium has requested a six-month extension to transpose this directive into Belgian law.
What is the impact of not transposing this directive?
In principle, a directive does not apply directly between employer and worker. As long as Belgium has not transposed the rules, your employees cannot rely on this directive.
Specifically, this means that there are currently no enforceable obligations or sanctions, but these will come into effect as soon as the Belgian transposition enters into force.
Attention: a different system applies to the public sector. There, in case of late transposition, employees can indeed invoke the directive directly against a government employer.
Moreover, steps have already been taken: the French Community has already transposed the rules via a decree and in Flanders a draft regulation is also ready.
Pay Gap Act
Remember that Belgium has had a pay gap act since 2012. The purpose of the pay gap act is to make visible and eliminate pay differences between men and women. If you are a company that usually employs on average at least 50 workers, you must already submit an analysis report on the wage structure of the employees to the Company Council every two years. Based on this legislation, employees who believe they are victims of pay discrimination on the grounds of gender can already file a complaint.
Social Balance
Moreover, in the social balance, specifically for the pay gap, you must break down certain personnel and wage data by gender.
Securex already fills in your social balance with all the data available to the social secretariat. You only need to add the missing information.
What does this mean for you as an employer?
Legally, you do not yet have to apply the new rules on pay transparency.
On the other hand, the main principles of the pay transparency directive are clear. Moreover, a clear pay policy increases motivation within your team. Therefore, it is best to start working today on a clear and transparent HR policy.
What can you already do?
As an employer, you can already prepare without waiting for the legislation.
- Map out your pay policy: check wages per function and identify any differences
- Establish objective pay criteria: set clear and justifiable rules
- Prepare for transparency: think about how you will communicate pay information
- Align your HR processes: ensure consistent rules for recruitment, evaluation and promotion
Read more: "Pay Transparency: audit, reporting, advice"
What does Securex do for you?
Our Securex consultants can help you review, optimise and implement changes to your pay policy where needed. We also focus on gender-neutral remuneration. Feel free to contact us via consultinglegal@securex.be for a non-binding offer.
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