Pay transparency: deadline passed, duties coming

The EU pay transparency directive had to be transposed into national law by 7 June 2026. Austria let that deadline pass; as of October 2026 an implementing act exists only as a draft. For employers this postpones the duties; it does not remove them.

What the directive requires

• Salary information before the interview: applicants are entitled to information on the starting pay or its range and may no longer be asked about their previous salary.
• Information rights for employees: employees may request information on their own pay and the average pay levels of comparable groups, broken down by gender.
• Pay reports: the duty is staggered by company size and begins with larger employers; an unexplained gender pay gap of at least five per cent triggers mandatory pay assessments.
• Shift of the burden of proof: in disputes over pay discrimination, the employer will have to prove that it does not discriminate.

Consequences of the delayed transposition

Once the transposition deadline has passed, employees of public-sector employers may rely directly on sufficiently precise provisions of the directive; against private employers the directive operates through the interpretation of the Equal Treatment Act in conformity with it; the right to equal pay applies directly under Art 157 TFEU in any event. Moreover, the coming act will hardly be milder than the directive itself. Anyone who starts analysing their pay structure only after promulgation will be under time pressure; reliable pay data and a comprehensible evaluation system cannot be built in weeks.

Sensible preparation

Preparation consists in surveying pay structures now, forming comparison groups, identifying unexplained differences and adapting job-posting processes. All of this is possible without the statutory text; the directive already sets a binding direction. We handle the legal side of this analysis and the design of the future processes.