The transposition of the European Directive on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value is, following the 2025 ‘flexi-amendment’, another significant development in labour law. Its main aim is to reduce pay inequalities, which are often concealed due to a lack of transparency.
What changes await employers in the area of equal pay and pay transparency
Although the process of transposing the directive has not yet been fully completed, it is clear from the draft amendment to the Labour Code that the new rules on pay transparency are, with certain exceptions, due to come into force on 1 January 2027.
Differences in pay between men and women?
Several new rules are thus being added to the principle of equal pay, which has been enshrined in the Czech Labour Code for a good number of years already.
The Directive does not generally prohibit differences in pay between men and women, nor differences in pay between the same job roles. However, it requires specific justification for such differences.
Any pay differences must be based on pre-determined objective criteria arising from the value of the work, its difficulty, the level of responsibility involved and the physical strain involved.
In other words, employers are expected to establish a clear remuneration framework and structure, graded according to individual job roles, which they will adhere to, both for current employees and for future job applicants.
Employers’ transparency
Employers will now be obliged to provide information on pay as early as in the recruitment stage (either in the job advertisement or during the job interview), at which point they will be required to disclose to the applicant information on the minimum amount (or total range) of pay for the position in question.
The directive thus aims to eliminate pay disparities for the same job roles caused by differences in the negotiating skills of individual candidates.
The proposed amendment to the Labour Code further provides that employees will be entitled to request information on their individual pay level and on the average pay levels of employees performing the same work or work of equal value, broken down by gender. There will be a legal right to this information; in other words, the employer will be required to respond to such a request within two months of receiving it. The employer will therefore be obliged to provide information on the pay range within a given category; however, this does not mean that employees will be entitled to request information on the specific pay of individual colleagues.
Regular reporting
Larger employers (with over 100 employees) will also be subject to mandatory regular reporting on pay gaps between women and men.
Consequently, if employers have not yet established a system that takes into account the above-mentioned principles of equality and transparency in pay, the forthcoming amendment to the Labour Code will present them with a considerable challenge in this area.
Although the final form of the amendment to the Labour Code is not yet known, it is highly recommended that employers begin to review their pay systems and make greater or lesser adjustments as warranted.
Author: Zuzana Ďuríková, Senior Associate, Employment & Dispute Resolution, LYNX Czech Republic
Source: Draft transposition amendment to Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value