14 February 2026
Equal opportunities – Discrimination
Equal pay: draft legislative decree implementing the new rules on transparency, reporting and pay gaps above 5%
The Council of Ministers has given preliminary approval to the draft legislative decree implementing the European directive on equal pay between men and women, introducing stricter obligations for both public and private employers.
The measure operates on several levels. At the recruitment stage, companies will be required to indicate in job postings the starting salary or the relevant pay range and will no longer be allowed to ask candidates about remuneration received in previous employment relationships.
During the employment relationship, workers will have the right to know the criteria used to determine pay and salary progression, as well as – upon request – the average pay levels, broken down by gender, relating to categories performing the same work or work of equal value.
Companies with at least 100 employees will be subject to a periodic obligation to report data on the gender pay gap. Where a gap equal to or greater than 5% emerges and is not justified by objective and gender-neutral criteria, the employer must initiate a joint assessment with workers’ representatives and adopt corrective measures.
The new rules also strengthen the principle that classification and grading systems must be based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, enhancing the role of collective bargaining.
The organisational impact will be significant, especially for larger entities, which will be required to structure data collection, monitoring and internal transparency systems. It is therefore advisable to begin the necessary procedural adjustments in due time.
