Since 7 June, EU rules aimed at strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women for the same work or for work of equal value have been applicable.
The rules explained step by step, along with the debate they have sparked. Pending the first case law developments, one point appears clear: pay transparency cannot be addressed as a mere documentation requirement, but will require companies to undertake a broader reflection on the consistency, traceability and objectivity of their job classification and pay determination systems.
Pay transparency: Legislative Decree No. 96/2026 enters into force, introducing new obligations for companies
With Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026, published in the Official Gazette No. 125 of 1 June 2026 and effective from 7 June 2026, the Italian legislator implemented Directive (EU) 2023/970, introducing a comprehensive set of rules aimed at strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women for the same work or for work of equal value.
The reform does not merely introduce new formal requirements but has a broader impact on the organisation of companies’ pay policies: on the one hand, it imposes greater transparency obligations on employers; on the other, it provides employees with more effective information and protection tools, with the aim of addressing the gender pay gap and promoting genuine pay equity.
Key obligations for employers
1. Transparency obligations in recruitment procedures
The first area affected concerns access to employment: candidates must be informed of the initial salary or the relevant pay range before being hired, enabling a more informed and transparent negotiation process.
Alongside this, employers will be prohibited from requesting information about a candidate’s previous remuneration, preventing past employment history from automatically influencing the determination of the new salary. The rationale is clear: to avoid existing inequalities from previous work experiences being carried forward and reinforced throughout an individual’s career.
Adoption of objective and gender-neutral pay criteria
Transparency, however, does not only concern the recruitment stage. The new legislation requires companies’ pay systems to be based on objective, transparent and gender-neutral criteria, making the process of determining remuneration verifiable. Consistently with this approach, the criteria used to determine pay, career progression and advancement opportunities must be made accessible to employees, allowing effective scrutiny of the neutrality of company decisions.
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