Key principles published for legislation to implement remaining gender pay transparency obligations

8 December 2025 6 min read

At a glance

Poland is making progress towards full implementation of the EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive).
Pre-employment pay transparency measures will take effect in December 2025.
Now the focus is on the introduction of new standalone legislation to implement the remaining Directive obligations.
The government has recently published the key principles which will inform the new legislation.
The new draft bill is now awaited.

In June 2025, the President of the Republic of Poland signed an amendment to the Labour Code implementing the pre-employment pay transparency measures required under the Directive, with effect from 24 December 2025 (see our earlier article).

Since then, there has been progress on implementing the remaining parts of the Directive, including the new gender pay gap reporting requirements. On 25 November 2025, the Polish government published the key principles which will inform the new legislation.

In forming the key principles, the government noted as follows:

Equal pay for men and women is already addressed in the Polish Constitution and in the Labour Code:
- Article 33 Constitution of the Republic of Poland grants women and men the right to equal pay for work of equal value.
- Article 18(3)(c) Labour Code provides for the right of employees to equal remuneration for equal work, or work of equal value. This principle applies to all employees regardless of gender. Remuneration in the meaning of this provision includes all components of pay, regardless of their name and nature, as well as other benefits related to work that are granted to employees in monetary or non-monetary form. Work of equal value refers to work that requires comparable professional qualifications, confirmed by documents provided for in separate regulations, or by practice and professional experience, as well as comparable responsibility and effort.
In terms of pay transparency, under Article 29(3)(1)(h) Labour Code, employers are obliged to inform employees, amongst other things, about components of remuneration and monetary or non-monetary benefits, other than those agreed in the employment contract.
When determining remuneration for work, Article 78 Labour Code applies. Remuneration determined on this basis should correspond to the type of work performed and the qualifications required for its performance, and it should also take into account the quantity and quality of work performed.
However, the Polish legal system lacks detailed regulations on the right to equal pay and pay transparency as provided for in the Directive. Therefore, new legislation in this regard is necessary.

Key principles

The new measures will not be implemented via a revision of the Labour Code (unlike the pre-employment pay transparency measures). Instead there will be a completely separate act, with several changes to the Civil Procedure Code, the Labour Code, and the Act on the State Labour Inspectorate.
The new legislation will be called the Act on Strengthening the Application of the Right to Equal Pay for Men and Women for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value) (Act)
The Act will introduce the following:

Pay information

An obligation for employers, regardless of size, to have pay structures enabling analysis of whether employees are in comparable situations. To implement the Directive, there will be a minimum requirement of applying four mandatory criteria for job evaluation (skills; effort; responsibility; and working conditions). Employers may, where appropriate, include additional criteria or sub-criteria. All criteria and sub-criteria must be applied objectively and in a gender-neutral manner, excluding any direct or indirect discrimination based on gender.
An obligation for employers to define criteria for determining remuneration, pay levels, and pay increases objectively and in a gender-neutral manner, excluding any direct or indirect discrimination based on gender.
An obligation for employers to ensure employees have easy access to criteria for determining remuneration, pay levels, and pay increases; however, employers with fewer than 50 employees will only be obliged to provide information on the criteria for determining pay increases upon an employee's request.
An employee’s right to request information from their employer about their pay level and average pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of employees performing equal work, or work of equal value.
An obligation for employers to provide employees and, to some extent, job applicants with specific information (eg initial pay or pay range; criteria for determining remuneration; pay levels and pay increases; individual pay level; and average pay levels broken down by gender for categories of employees performing equal work or work of equal value) in an accessible format for persons with disabilities, enabling them to freely and properly review this information, particularly in a digitally accessible form (which meets at least the level specified in the annex to the Act of 4 April 2019 on Digital Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Entities (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1440)).

Pay gap reporting obligations

Employers with 100 or more employees will be required to prepare a gender pay gap report containing information on:

The gender pay gap.
The gender pay gap with reference to supplementary or variable components of pay.
The median gender pay gap.
The median gender pay gap with reference to supplementary or variable components of pay.
The percentage of female and male employees receiving supplementary or variable components of pay.
The percentage of female and male employees in each pay band.
The gender pay gap of employees by category, based on personal classification determined by hourly or monthly rates and supplementary or variable components of pay.

The gender pay gap report must be prepared:

Every three years for employers with between 100 and 249 employees.
Annually for employers with 250 or more employees.

Reports must be submitted via an IT tool provided by the President of the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and made available by the monitoring authority in cooperation with the President of the CSO.
Most information will be published by the monitoring authority (to be defined in the Act) and may also be published by the employer. Information on the gender pay gap by employee category will not be made public but will be shared with employees and their representatives proactively and provided to labour inspectors, or equality bodies, upon request within 14 days.

Joint pay assessments

Joint pay assessments – obligation for employers with 100 or more employees. Employers will be required to conduct a joint pay assessment if all the following conditions are met:

The pay gap report shows a gender pay gap of at least 5% in any category of employees.
The employer has not justified the gap based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.
The employer has not remedied the unjustified gap within six months of submitting the report.

The joint pay assessment must be carried out in consultation with trade unions or, in the absence of trade unions, with employee representatives. Its purpose is to identify unjustified gender pay differences and implement corrective measures.