Under 100 employees: your obligations under the Directive

• Pay structures and categories of work of equal value (Art. 4). Pay structures must ensure equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, assessed on objective, gender-neutral criteria — skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions — agreed with workers' representatives where they exist (Art. 4(4)). They are the basis of every answer to a pay-information request and of every per-category gap.
• Pay range before the interview (Art. 5). Applicants receive the initial pay or its range for the position — in the vacancy notice or before the interview — so negotiations start informed.
• Pay history questions banned (Art. 5(2)). Employers may not ask candidates about their pay in current or previous jobs — not in interviews, not in forms.
• Gender-neutral vacancies and titles (Art. 5(3)). Vacancy notices and job titles must be gender-neutral and recruitment processes led in a non-discriminatory manner.
• Objective pay criteria, accessible to workers (Art. 6). The criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression must be objective, gender-neutral and easily accessible. (Member states may exempt employers under 50 workers from the pay-progression part.)
• Workers' right to pay information (Art. 7). Any worker can request, in writing, their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work or work of equal value. The employer answers within 2 months.
• Pay secrecy clauses banned (Art. 7(5)). Workers cannot be prevented from disclosing their pay for the purpose of enforcing equal pay — contractual pay-confidentiality clauses are unenforceable for that purpose.

• No mandatory gap reporting (Art. 9 starts at 100 employees) — voluntary reporting remains possible, and member states may extend the duty downward.
• Possible exemption under 50: member states may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from publishing pay-progression criteria — the rest of Art. 6 (objective, accessible pay criteria) still applies.
• Equal pay still binds you. A worker can request the category averages at any company size — and the burden of proof shifts to you once the numbers suggest a problem.

• Remedies and burden of proof (Art. 16–18). Workers who suffered pay discrimination are entitled to full compensation; in court, once facts suggesting discrimination are shown, it is for the employer to prove there was none.
• Penalties, including fines (Art. 23). Each member state sets penalties — effective, proportionate and dissuasive, including fines. The amounts are set in national law and differ from state to state.

Recruitment first — it is your most visible obligation, on every ad, from day one. Then the job evaluation behind your pay structures, and pay criteria your workers can actually access. The compliance calendar lays out your exact clocks; the plans follow the same thresholds as this page.