Glossary
The Directive’s terms, in plain English
Every legal term of the Pay Transparency Directive, explained in one clear paragraph — the exact definitions we use in the platform.
- Pay
- Everything a worker receives for their work, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind: the ordinary basic salary plus allowances, bonuses, commissions, overtime and benefits in kind. The Directive applies to complete remuneration, not just base salary.
- Pay level
- A worker's gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay. It is the Directive's unit of comparison — averages and gaps are computed on pay levels.
- Gender pay gap
- The difference between the average pay levels of male and female workers, expressed as a percentage of the male average. The formula is fixed by Art. 3: the denominator is always the men's average. details →
- Median pay gap
- The same difference computed on the median (the middle of the distribution) instead of the mean — robust to extreme salaries. The Directive requires both, precisely so the distribution cannot be hidden.
- Equal work
- The same work: two workers on identical or near-identical tasks.
- Work of equal value
- Work that differs in nature but is comparable in value under objective criteria: skills (including interpersonal ones), effort, responsibility and working conditions. The Directive's central concept — every calculation runs on categories of equal value. details →
- Category of workers
- The group of workers performing the same work or work of equal value, produced by job evaluation. The per-category gap (metric g) is reported for each one, and the 5% threshold is judged there.
- Job evaluation
- The process of classifying jobs by value on the four legal criteria, scoring weighted subfactors per job. The criteria must be objective and gender-neutral, and workers' representatives must be able to scrutinise them. details →
- Pay quartile
- A quarter of the pay distribution: workers ordered by pay are split into four equal groups. Reporting requires the proportion of women and men in each quartile — it shows who occupies the top and the bottom of the pay hierarchy.
- Variable or complementary components
- The part of pay above basic salary: bonuses, commissions, premiums, overtime. Reported separately (the variable gap plus the proportion of each sex receiving them) because this is where differences most often hide.
- The 5% threshold
- The level at which a mean gap in any category — unjustified by objective criteria and unremedied for 6 months from the reporting date — triggers the joint pay assessment. details →
- Objective, gender-neutral criteria
- The lawful justifications for a pay difference: measurable criteria applied consistently that do not systematically disadvantage one sex — seniority, qualifications, documented performance. Individual negotiation skill or salary history are NOT objective criteria.
- Joint pay assessment
- The mandatory pay audit triggered by the 5% threshold: carried out together with workers' representatives, with content fixed by Art. 10, and made available to workers and the monitoring body. details →
- Remediation
- Correcting unjustified differences within a reasonable period — and within 6 months of the reporting date if the 5% trigger is to be avoided. Equalisation happens upwards: by raising the pay of the disadvantaged group, never by cutting anyone's pay.
- Right to pay information
- Any worker's right to request, in writing, their individual pay level and the average pay levels by sex for their category, with an answer within 2 months (Art. 7). details →
- Workers' representatives
- Trade unions or elected representatives. The Directive gives them an active role: they scrutinise evaluation criteria and reporting methodology, take part in the joint pay assessment, and channel information requests.
- Monitoring body
- The authority each member state designates (Art. 29) to receive reports, publish the data and monitor implementation. Its name and procedures are national — Egalis country editions track them.
- Equality body
- The national body for equal treatment (per Directive 2006/54/EC) — supports workers in discrimination claims and, in several member states, receives the joint pay assessment.
- Reversed burden of proof
- In pay discrimination litigation, once the worker shows facts from which discrimination may be presumed, it is for the employer to prove there was none (Art. 18) — which makes documented, objective criteria the employer's main defence.
- Intersectional discrimination
- Discrimination on sex combined with another protected ground (ethnicity, age, disability…). The Directive names it explicitly (Art. 3(2)(e)) and requires courts and authorities to take it into account.
- Directive (EU) 2023/970
- The EU Pay Transparency Directive (10 May 2023). In force since 6 June 2023; member states had to transpose it by 7 June 2026; first gap reports are due by 7 June 2027. details →