The Equal Pay Act significantly strengthens the position of employees in verifying the fairness of their remuneration and in monitoring gender pay gaps. The new legislation removes the previous information asymmetry, where employees often lacked access to data on their colleagues' salary levels, making it practically impossible for them to identify discriminatory practices and defend themselves effectively. The right to information on remuneration now belongs to all employees, regardless of the size of their employer, making it a universal tool for ensuring pay fairness. Employees thus gain real power to check whether their remuneration truly corresponds to the value of the work performed and whether the remuneration criteria applied are objective and gender-neutral.
An employee can request in writing:
The key advantage is the prohibition of wage secrecy – the confidentiality clause regarding one's own salary will be invalid from June 2026. This means that colleagues will be able to openly discuss their pay.
Finally, here is one more important piece of information that may be key for many. This time, the legislator has left nothing to chance, and the difference in remuneration will not be derived from wages but from reward. Reward includes the basic component of wages, the minimum wage, as well as additional components that the employer provides at their discretion. This will make it impossible to pretend externally that employees of the same category have the same gross wage and to camouflage differences with additional components. The penalties are high, which is precisely why a well-established remuneration system is necessary. Do not forget that the system is uncompromising: reversed burden of proof, retroactive payment of the difference in reward, and penalties. You will learn more in our article provided below:
