Portugal consults on draft bill to implement the Gender Pay Transparency Directive

At a glance

• On 5 August 2026, Portugal published a draft bill to implement the EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive).
• The bill is now subject to public consultation for a short period of 20 days (until 25 August 2026) in apparent acknowledgement of the fact that there is an urgent need to publish legislation because Portugal missed the original 7 June deadline for the Directive's implementation.
• The legislation will come into force one month after its formal publication.
• The bill introduces new pay transparency obligations throughout the employment lifecycle, including mandatory disclosure of salary ranges before hire; a ban on asking candidates about pay history; transparent remuneration policies; and enhanced employee rights to access pay information.
• Employers with 50 or more employees will face new gender pay gap reporting requirements, with the largest employers (150+ employees) required to begin reporting by 7 June 2027 and smaller employers (50 to 149 employees) by 7 June 2031.
• A robust enforcement regime is proposed, and the bill also materially strengthens employee protections.

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Portugal has finally taken a significant step forward in implementing the  Directive, with the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security publishing a draft bill for public consultation on 5 August 2026. The consultation is only open for 20 days until 25 August 2026 in recognition of the fact that there is now an urgent need to finalise legislation. The original deadline for implementation passed on 7 June 2026.

If enacted, the bill will amend Portugal's existing equal pay framework under Law No. 60/2018, Decree-Law No. 78/2026 (governing the Commission for Equality in Work and Employment), and the Code of Labour Procedure.

The proposals introduce a range of new obligations for employers including:

Salary information for job applicants

Job applicants will be entitled to receive the starting pay, or pay range, for a role before concluding an employment contract, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.  However, there is no express requirement that this information is given in a job advertisement.

In line with the Directive, employers will also be prohibited from asking candidates about their remuneration history with current or previous employers.

Transparent pay policy

Once hired, employees will benefit from considerably greater transparency around pay.

Employers will be required to maintain a transparent remuneration policy, agreed with workers' representatives where they exist, grounded in objective, gender-neutral criteria that take into account skills, responsibility, working conditions, and any other factors relevant to the role.

Additionally, the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels, and pay progression must be displayed prominently, or published on the company intranet. However, companies with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the pay progression publication obligation.

Ban on pay secrecy

Any contractual or collective agreement clauses that prevent employees from disclosing their pay will be rendered null and void.

Employee right to request pay information

Employers will also be required to inform employees annually of their right to request information on their individual pay level and average pay levels, broken down by gender, for groups of employees performing equal work or work of equal value. Any requests must be answered within two months.

Employers can require that employees only use any information provided for the purpose of exercising their right to equal pay.

Pay gap reporting

Despite the Directive requiring only mandatory pay gap reporting for companies with 100 or more employees, Portugal's draft bill has a lower threshold, requiring companies with 50 or more employees to submit sex-disaggregated pay data to the data protection authority, covering overall and median pay gaps (including in supplementary and variable pay); the proportion of men and women receiving variable pay; quartile distribution; and pay gaps by employee group.

Temporary workers in the employer's service must be included in the calculation of the employer's workforce.

Companies with 250 or more employees will need to begin annual reporting by 7 June 2027, with those employing between 150 and 249 staff also facing a first deadline of 7 June 2027 (reporting every three years thereafter). Smaller companies, with between 50 and 149 employees, have until 7 June 2031 to file their first report, again on a three-yearly cycle.

Enforcement framework

The draft bill puts in place a robust enforcement framework. Where the labour inspection authority identifies sex-based pay differences in reported data, employers will have 90 days to justify the difference or propose corrective measures. Crucially, unjustified differences will be presumed discriminatory.

Where an unjustified pay gap of at least 5% persists, employers will be required to carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives within 45 days and implement corrective measures within 90 days.

The penalties regime is notably strong. Breaches of the core obligations, including those relating to remuneration policy, pay transparency, reporting, and joint assessments, will be classified as very serious administrative offences.

Repeat offenders risk additional sanctions, including the revocation of tax and financial incentives; withdrawal of public benefits; exclusion from public tenders for up to two years; and mandatory pay transparency training.

The bill also bolsters protections for whistleblowers and complainants. Any dismissal or disciplinary action occurring within three years of an equal pay complaint will be presumed abusive.

Next steps

The consultation closes on 25 August 2026, giving stakeholders only a narrow window to submit comments. The bill will then be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic for parliamentary consideration, with the government having requested priority and urgent review.

If enacted, the legislation will enter into force on the first day of the month following its publication.