02.08.2024
EMPLOYERS ARE PROHIBITED FROM ASKING ABOUT PREVIOUS SALARY
In May 2023, the European Parliament adopted Directive (EU) 2023/970 to strengthen the implementation of the principle of equal pay for women and men for equal work or work of equal value through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. By virtue of this Directive, which is yet to be transposed into our legislation, a number of requirements and restrictions are placed on employers when publishing job advertisements. Lawyer Miglena Micheva, Senior Manager and Head of Labor Law Department at Deloitte Legal Law Firm, provides clarification on the topic.
In what time frame is Directive 2023/970 expected to be transposed into Bulgarian legislation and to which employers does it apply?
Member States must transpose the Directive by 7 June 2026 at the latest. It applies to all employers in the public and private sectors and applies to all contract employees and also to job applicants. Employers with a minimum of 100 employees must regularly report various information, such as the gender pay gap and the ratio of female to male employees. This requirement will be introduced gradually from 7 June 2027. This information should be published by the so-called surveillance authorities of the Member States implementing the Directive. At the moment, there is still no draft of a normative act submitted to the National Assembly to introduce the Directive into the Bulgarian legislation, but at the end of last year an interdepartmental working group was formed under the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, which should develop the draft.
Will employers have the right to inquire about a job applicant's pay history?
The directive provides for a ban on employers asking the candidate questions about past pay, including current and previous employment contracts.
What information will employers be required to provide in their job postings regarding the salary for the position?
Employers should provide job applicants with information on: - the starting salary or its range, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, to be determined for the relevant position; and - the relevant provisions of the collective labor agreement, if applicable. This information should be published in the vacancy advertisement prior to the job interview or otherwise provided to the applicant.
What information about company pay will employers be required to provide to their employees?
Employees may request and employers should provide them with written information on: - their individual pay level, and - the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of employees who perform work equal to them or work of a value equal to the value of their work (defined as such according to non-discriminatory criteria). If the information received is inaccurate or incomplete, employees have the right to request in person or through their representatives additional and reasonable clarifications and details regarding all data provided. In addition, employers should provide their employees with easy access to the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay increases.
What sanctions will companies be subject to if they do not provide this information?
Specific dimensions are not explicitly stated in the Directive. Member States should lay down rules on effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. The directive states that these sanctions should include fines, possibly based on the employer's gross annual turnover or the total amount of its payroll. These sanctions may also include the withdrawal of public benefits or the exclusion for a certain period of time from any continuation of the provision of financial incentives or from participation in public tender procedures.
The Directive mentions an "equality body", what is meant - the Anti-Discrimination Commission or some internal structure for the company concerned?
This should be a state body and not an internal structure for the employer. There are currently two bodies that could perform these functions - the Commission for Protection against Discrimination and the National Council for the Equality of Women and Men (according to the Law on the Equality of Women and Men). Which authority will cover the requirements of the Directive or the distribution of responsibilities between them is a key question in view of the application of the Directive and it remains to be seen how it will be decided by the legislator.
