EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL JUSTICE AND CONSUMERS Directorate D:Equality and Union Citizenship Unit D.2: Gender equality

Evaluation of the EU legal framework on ‘equal pay for equal work or work of equal value’

Summary report – public consultation
Spring 2019

Disclaimer

This Report is without prejudice to any position the European Commission might take as regards the subject matter of this public consultation. It contains the summary of the results of a public consultation carried out from 11 January 2019 to 5 April 2019, but it does not represent the official position of the European Commission. Therefore, neither the public consultation nor this summary report are binding for the European Commission.

July 2019

1.Introduction And Overview Of Respondents

The Commission launched this public consultation in the context of the evaluation of the equal pay provisions in EU law (Article 157 TFEU, Directive 2006/54/EC 1 (Recast Directive) and 2014 Commission Recommendation 2 . The consultation opened on the Commission’s ‘Have Your Say’ portal on 11 January 2019 and ended on 5 April 2019. In total, 386 individuals or organisations completed the Public Consultation questionnaire. The Commission also received 16 position papers 3 .

Figure 1. Respondents to the PC questionnaire by stakeholder

Figure 2. Country of origin of responses, overall

Figure 3. Breakdown of responses by company size

2.Outcome Of Replies

Respondents were invited to provide their opinion on the different aspects of the implementation of the EU legal framework on equal pay, including the Gender Equality Recast Directive and the Commission Pay Transparency Recommendation, and more specifically on pay transparency and enforcement measures, as well as on the protection of victims of gender pay discrimination.

General part

Respondents were invited to provide opinions on the implementation of the Gender Equality Recast Directive and the EU pay transparency recommendation, the effectiveness of national measures, progress during the past 10 years (since the directive was implemented by Member States) and opinions on the remaining obstacles.

Overall, 44% of respondents feel that men and women are not paid equally for the same work or work of equal value in their countries; 23% of respondents believe that men and women are paid equally and 5% have no opinion or did not answer the question. EU citizens and trade unions/NGOs are substantially more likely to believe that men and women are not paid equally for the same work or work of equal value (55% and 57% respectively) as compared with companies and businesses (3%).

As regards the effectiveness of the implementation of the equal pay principle, especially in facilitating respect of equal pay rights for women and men and in ensuring protection of a worker claiming enforcement of his/her rights to equal pay, such effectiveness is viewed as especially low in the private sector (30% of respondents responded with “very ineffective”). The equal pay principle is considered to be most effectively implemented in the public sector and in research organisations. Overall, the measure which is considered to be most effective is promotion of social partner dialogue (47% of respondents report this measure to be very effective or somewhat effective). In addition, the measure with the highest share of respondents noting that it was not present in their country was gender-neutral job classification and evaluation system (12% of respondents).

More than 30% of respondents note that victim’s rights to adequate compensation, victim’s protection against retaliation and the sharing of the burden of proof between plaintiffs and defendants are “very effective” or “somewhat effective” measures, while penalties imposed on employers are considered less effective.

When it comes to the broader impact of the Gender Equality Recast Directive and the Commission’s Pay Transparency Recommendation (EU intervention), more than 70% of respondents agree or somehow agree that the EU intervention has increased public debate about the need to ensure pay transparency and the need to introduce effective measures. More than 50% agree that the EU intervention has increased attention to develop gender neutral job classification and job evaluation systems and has given rise to inclusion of pay transparency within wider policy measures.  

The majority of respondents agrees or somehow agrees that progress has been made during the past ten years both in facilitating the enforcement of the right to equal pay (63%) and in protecting workers who claim their right to equal pay (54%). Businesses and companies have more positive views on the progress made in these two areas.

Figure 4, Opinions on the broader impact of the EU intervention

As regards obstacles to effective implementation of the principle of equal pay for women and men, a lack of dissuasive penalties for employers, lack of awareness among employees about equal pay rules and lack of effective application of job evaluation systems, as well as a lack of these systems as such, are considered as key obstacles (see Figure below):

Figure 5. Obstacles to effective implementation of the principle of equal pay

Pay transparency

Respondents had an opportunity to provide opinions on the benefits and risks of pay transparency measures as well as their views of the benefits in relation to the costs of implementation.

Most respondents believe that greater pay transparency contributes to reducing the gender pay gap and to improving the public image of the employer (see Figure below):

Figure 6. Benefits of pay transparency measures

Two thirds of respondents (68%) believe that the benefits of pay transparency measures exceed any implementation costs. This view is more concentrated among EU citizens (82%), NGOs and trade unions (92%) while businesses and companies have more reserved views (ranging from 13% to 24%, depending on the type of benefit). 30% of respondents have no view on this question.

Enforcement measures and protection of victims of gender pay discrimination

Finally, PC allowed respondents to provide their opinions on the effectiveness of enforcement measures and measures that could encourage victims of pay discrimination to come forward. It also solicits input on the need for additional EU action to reduce the occurrence of gender pay discrimination.

Respondents who are aware of measures enforcing the principle of equal pay and protecting victims of discrimination believe that measures such as disqualification from public benefits and subsidies and disqualification from public procurement have the most dissuasive effect (51% and 40% indicated “very dissuasive”, respectively). On the other hand, at least 20% of respondents believe that such measures are not in place in their countries.

Figure 7. Dissuasiveness of the enforcement measures

Regarding factors that may influence a victim’s decision whether or not to seek redress in the case of alleged pay discrimination, the largest share of respondents notes the fear of professional consequences (76%) and lengthy and costly litigation (81%) as the most important obstacles for victims. The level of compensation to victims was considered least important (59%).

Among measures that could encourage victims of gender-related pay discrimination to seek redress and on the need for further EU-level action to address gender-related pay discrimination, EU citizens consider clear information from the State and equality bodies as well as burden of proof on employers to be the most effective. Trade unions and NGOs are more likely to value clear information and awareness raising from employers. 49% of respondents indicate that some form of additional EU-level action is needed and 43% believe that further Member State action is needed.

3.Next steps

The replies to this public consultation feed into the European Commission’s evaluation of the EU legal framework on equal pay, which is expected to be published in autumn 2019.