Draft bill published for implementation of the EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive (update)

At a glance

• On 26 March 2025, the Dutch government published a draft bill (Bill) to implement the EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive).
• There will now be a period of internet consultation on the Bill, following which there will be an extensive legislative process to bring the Bill into force.  It is possible that changes may be made to the Bill as it makes its way through the legislative process.
• The final legislation is expected to come into force on 7 June 2026.
• For now, the Bill covers only the minimum obligations required under the Directive.

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Update: 8 May 2025

The internet consultation on the draft Bill closed on 7 May 2025. The government will now summarise the responses and may revise the Bill's provisions before submitting the Bill to the Council of State for advice.

On 26 March 2025, the Dutch government published a Bill to implement the Directive, which is now subject to internet consultation with the public.  After the consultation is completed, there will be a process where both the House of Representatives and the Senate will have to approve the Bill. The anticipated entry into force date is 7 June 2026.

At present, the Bill contains only what is minimally required under the Directive.  It is possible that changes may be made to the draft bill during its passage through the legislative process and the actual legislation that comes into effect may differ on specific topics.

The Bill also requires several ministerial regulations to further implement the Bill (eg on what are considered equal positions, and the salary components to be taken into account). These regulations have not yet been drafted.

Under the proposed Bill, employers will need to be more focused on the existence of potential gender pay gaps within their business and take steps to actively assess and address this.

Employee job categories

Under the Bill, employers will need to actively identify work that has the same value. This will need to be done by implementing ‘pay structures’ to determine the value of work:

• The pay structures to be implemented will require the consent of the works council before implementation.
• Pay structures can be seen as a job evaluation and job classification system based on objective criteria. If no collective labour agreement applies, employers will need to establish pay structures themselves. If pay structures already exist, employers will need to determine whether the current systems include objective and gender neutral criteria. If not, a new structure will need to be implemented. This would require works council consent.  Changes to a current system also require the consent of the works council.
• Pay structures must include all criteria relevant for a specific position and must in any event include the required (1) skills; (2) efforts; (3) responsibilities; and (4) employment conditions. This will lead to ‘employee categories’ who work in positions of the ‘same value’.  Where an employer determines that two positions have the ‘same value’ (even though it concerns different work in different positions), the employees in those positions should – other than where there is objective justification on an individual level – receive the same salary. Performing another position is not itself an objective justification.

Whether there is a gender pay gap is determined per employee category (ie between those who perform work of the same value). Objective justification for any pay gap could include factors such as seniority, years of service and work experience or, in some circumstances, matters such as job performance and work results.

Addressing an unjustified pay gap

If there is an unjustified gender pay gap, employers must address this within a reasonable period. Any steps to address the gap can only be implemented with the consent of the works council.  If the pay gap is not addressed within a reasonable period, employers will have to perform an extensive ‘salary evaluation’, which again will require the approval of the works council.

When any gender pay gaps are not fully remediated, enforcement action can be taken by the Dutch Labour authority.  This situation will also create an assumption that the employer is discriminating on the basis of gender. Employers do, however, have the opportunity to provide counter evidence that this is not the case (however, this will be difficult if no predetermined criteria have been set).

Making pay information available to employees

Internally, employers must also make information on pay readily available to employees. This includes:

• Giving employees easy access to the criteria used for determining salary and salary levels.
• Where an employer has 50 or more employees, providing employees with easy access to the criteria used for determining the wage development of employees (eg which performance criteria influence the salary increases).
• Upon request, providing employees with written information about their individual salary level and the average salary levels for employee categories (specified by gender).

External reporting of gender pay gaps

In addition to the obligation to internally assess any gender pay gaps and the requirement to resolve any unjustified gender pay gaps, employers with 250 or more employees are also obliged to annually report the following information externally, commencing June 2027:

• The gender pay gap.
• The gender pay gap for additional and variable salary components.
• The median gender pay gap.
• The median gender pay gap for additional and variable salary components.
• The proportion of male and female employees that receive additional and variable salary components.
• The proportion of male and female employees in every quartile salary scale.
• The pay gap between employees, broken down by categories of employees and by base salaries and additional or variable components.

Employers with 150 – 249 employees will have to report every three years, starting from June 2027 and employers with 100 – 149 employees will also have to report every three years, starting from June 2031.  Employers with fewer than 100 employees will not have to report.

The works council must be consulted on the information before communicating it internally and publishing it externally (however, the works council has no right of consent on the information itself). The information will then need to be published on a central government website

Pre-employment pay transparency

The Bill requires employers to provide information on the salary, or salary range, when offering an open position. The salary must be based on objective and gender-neutral criteria. The information must be provided in such a way that informed and transparent discussions can take place regarding the salary for the position.

Employers will no longer be allowed to ask job candidates about their salary history with their current, or previous, employer.