Salaries and differences in remuneration within companies may no longer be a reserved topic in the near future. A European directive about to be integrated into Portuguese legislation promises to change the rules regarding salary transparency, both in recruitment processes and within organizations themselves.
According to the radio’s website, June 7 marks the deadline for Portugal to transpose the European directive approved in 2023 into national legislation. The measure aims to reinforce equal pay between men and women and create new obligations for employers.
What could change in job interviews
One of the planned changes involves the obligation to indicate salaries or salary ranges in job advertisements. The rule will cover all companies, regardless of size. According to the same source, employers will also no longer be able to question candidates about previous salaries or remuneration received in other jobs. The objective is to prevent old salary inequalities from continuing to influence new job proposals.
The European directive also provides for new rules within companies. Workers will now have the right to request written information about the remuneration levels practiced in their professional category. The same source writes that companies will have to respond within a maximum period of two months. The information disclosed must present average or median values and never identified individual salaries.
Salary is no longer just the base salary
The new obligations are not limited to the monthly maturity. Compensation will also include premiums, allowances, bonuses and overtime pay. Employers will also have to inform workers annually of their right to access this salary data.
The anticipated requirements vary depending on the size of the company. Organizations with 250 or more workers will have to submit annual salary reports from June next year. According to Renascença, companies with 150 to 249 employees will have to present this information every three years. Companies with between 100 and 149 workers will only begin to fulfill this obligation in 2031.
Salary differences may require audits
The directive also establishes automatic control mechanisms. Whenever there is an average salary difference equal to or greater than 5% between men and women without objective justification, the company may be obliged to carry out internal audits. The same source mentions that the situation will have to be corrected within six months. Otherwise, there may be additional sanctions and corrective measures.
Another relevant change is related to salary confidentiality. Companies will no longer be able to prevent workers from talking to each other about salaries, even through clauses in employment contracts. The directive also obliges employers to justify salary progressions and pay differences using clear criteria such as seniority, performance or skills.
Government has not yet presented a final proposal
Despite the proximity of the deadline defined by the EU, Portugal has not yet formally presented a definitive law proposal to transpose the directive. The same source revealed that he questioned the Ministry of Labor about the progress of the process, but is still awaiting a response. To the newspaper Expresso, an official source simply assured that “everything will be done to ensure that the deadlines for transposing directives are met”.
Meanwhile, several parties have put forward proposals related to salary transparency. Some initiatives ended up being rejected, while others are now being discussed in a parliamentary committee. Proposals presented by Chega, PCP, CDS and PAN were generally approved and will continue to be debated in the Labor, Social Security and Inclusion Committee.
ACT has already notified thousands of companies
Although the directive has not yet been formally integrated into Portuguese law, the Working Conditions Authority is already developing actions in this area. Almost 4,000 companies were notified last year due to issues related to pay inequality. Around a hundred ended up receiving sanctions for non-compliance.
The European directive comes in a context of growing pressure to reduce unjustified pay differences between workers performing equivalent functions. According to the same source, the EU’s intention is to reinforce transparency mechanisms and ensure that companies adopt more objective criteria when defining salaries and career progression.
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