The long-awaited key provision of implementation
At the end of November 2025, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy published the long-awaited key provisions of the draft law implementing Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU), known as the ‘equal pay and pay transparency directive’, which aims to effectively enforce the right to equal pay for women and men for equal work or work of equal value.

The new regulations are intended to introduce a number of obligations for employers and new rights for employees, as well as to extend the powers of state authorities responsible for monitoring compliance with the principle of equal treatment.

Pay structures based on objective criteria
Every employer, irrespective of size, will be required to develop pay structures that allow for the comparison of the value of work. The minimum mandatory criteria will be:

• skills,
• effort,
• responsibility,
• working conditions.

These criteria must be applied objectively and in a gender-neutral manner, without any form of discrimination. 

Transparent rules for determining pay
Employers will have to establish clear and objective criteria for:

• determining pay,
• pay rises,
• pay levels within the company.

These criteria have to be easily accessible to employees. Employers with fewer than 50 employees may provide information on pay progression rules upon request.

Right to information
Employers will be obliged to provide employees, and to a certain extent also job candidates, with specific information, including:

• the initial pay or its range,
• the criteria used to determine employees’ pay, pay levels and pay progression,
• the individual pay level of the employee and average pay levels broken down by gender for categories of employees performing the same work or work of equal value.

In addition, all this information must be available in a form that is accessible to persons with disabilities, including in accordance with digital accessibility standards.

Reporting on the pay gap – new obligations for employers with 100+ employees
Employers with at least 100 employees will be required to prepare reports on the gender pay gap. The report will include, among other things:

• the overall gender pay gap and the pay gap in variable components,
• the median gender pay gap,
• the proportion of women and men in each pay band, the gender pay gap broken down by employee category.

Frequency of reporting:

• every three years – companies with 100–249 employees,
• every year – companies with 250+ employees.

Most of the data will be made public by the monitoring body, while detailed data on employee categories will only be made available internally, for employees and supervisory bodies.

Explanations regarding the pay gap and remedial measures 
Employees, employees’ representatives, the National Labour Inspectorate and the equality body will be able to request additional explanations regarding the data in the reports.

Where pay differences cannot be objectively justified, the employer will be obliged to take corrective action.

Joint pay assessment – mandatory for companies in certain situations
Employers with at least 100 employees will be required to conduct a joint pay assessment (with the trade union or the employees’ representatives) if:

• the pay gap in any category is at least 5%,
• the employer cannot justify it on the basis of objective criteria,
• the employer has not eliminated the difference within six months.

Legal protection and penalties
The draft law provides for the protection of employees in the event of violations relating to the principle of equal pay.

Penalties in the form of fines ranging from PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 may be imposed for, e.g.: failure to assess the value of jobs,

• lack of access to information on the criteria, failure to provide information to employees, lack of reports or failure to provide data, lack of the joint pay assessment,
• failure to implement remedial measures,
• introduction of a prohibition on disclosure of pay in contracts.

New powers of authorities
Equality body

It will be responsible for enforcing the right to equal pay in cooperation with the National Labour Inspectorate, the monitoring body and social partners, and will perform its duties, among other things, by:

• requesting information on behalf of employees,
• requesting additional information and explanations from employers,
• analysing data from reports,
• cooperating with employers in implementing remedial measures,
• providing certain data to the monitoring body.

Monitoring body

Its tasks will include:

• analysing the causes of the pay gap,
• providing IT tools for reporting,
• collecting and aggregating data and information,
• submitting data specified in the draft law to the European Commission every two years,
• publishing data on the pay gap,
• education and awareness-raising activities.

State Labour Inspectorate

It will gain the power to, e.g.:

• provide training to smaller employers,
• request information from employers, including on the pay gap,
• participate in proceedings and activities relating to remedial measures,
• bring legal action on behalf of employees.

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