Bill to implement pre-employment obligations of Gender Pay Transparency Directive moves to the next stage (update)

At a glance

• On 9 May 2025, the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) passed a bill to amend the Polish Labour Code in order to implement the EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive).
• The bill has now been referred to the Senate (the upper house of the Polish Parliament) for further legislative work.

Update: 10 June 2025

On 4 June 2025, the Polish Parliament passed the bill to amend the Polish Labour Code in order to implement the Directive. The bill covers the obligations to make salaries more transparent during recruitment processes. 

The bill has now been referred to the President for signing and will come into force six months after the date of its publication in the Journal of Laws.  

This new legislation is the first stage of implementing the Directive. However, the Ministry of Family, Work and Social Policy has announced that work is also underway on a separate bill to fully implement the remaining parts of the Directive. As yet, no draft legislation has been published in respect of the pay gap reporting requirements.

By way of update to our earlier article, the Sejm has now passed the bill to amend the Polish Labour Code in order to implement the Directive.

Importantly, however, the bill only addresses certain aspects of the Directive relating to the pre-employment (recruitment) process. Other aspects such as an employer's gender pay gap  reporting obligations have not yet been addressed.

According to the bill, employers will be required to provide candidates with information about the remuneration for the position for which they are applying (its initial amount or range). The measures include:

• That the remuneration must be based on neutral and objective criteria, especially with regard to gender. Additionally, if the employer is covered by a collective labour agreement, or has remuneration regulations in place, candidates must be informed about the relevant provisions of these documents.
• A broad definition of 'remuneration'. It includes all components of pay, regardless of their name and nature, as well as other work-related benefits granted to employees in monetary or non-monetary form.
• To ensure transparency in negotiations with candidates, employers must provide the remuneration information in paper or electronic form prior to establishing an employment relationship with the candidate, eg it can be provided in the job advertisement or before the interview.
• Job advertisements and the titles of the applicable job positions must be gender-neutral, and the recruitment process itself must comply with the principle of non-discrimination.

Under the bill, Article 22(1) § 1 point 6 of the Labour Code, which provides for the possibility of requesting certain personal data from a job candidate, will also be amended by excluding information regarding the candidate's remuneration, both in their current and previous positions.

Once the bill has been passed by the Senate and signed by the President, the new law will  come into force six months after it has been published in the Journal of Laws. This means that the probable timescale of the law taking effect will be the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.