Annemarie Buwalda, 17 October 2025

Update: postponement of wage transparency bill. What does this mean?

The introduction of the Gender Pay Transparency Directive Implementation Act has been postponed. On 7 June 2023, the European Wage Transparency Directive entered into force. The implementation of the Directive was initially supposed to be completed by 7 June 2026. However, on 15 September 2025, the minister of social affairs and employment informed that this timeframe is not feasible. The minister indicated that more time is needed to shape the national regulations and their implementation so that employers can implement the obligations effectively and with the least possible administrative burden.

The adjusted timeline is therefore as follows:

Before the end of 2025: presentation of the bill to the Council of State.
In 2026: parliamentary debate.
No later than 1 January 2027: the intended date of entry into force in the Netherlands.

Back up for a moment: what does the Directive even mean?

In our earlier blog, we have already discussed in detail the main obligations for employers under the Directive. Below, we briefly recapitulate these obligations:

Obligations for employers

Wage structures: employers should establish transparent, objective and gender-neutral wage structures. These structures should clarify how jobs are valued so that categories of equal or equivalent work can be identified. This can be used to determine whether women and men are paid equally within these categories.
Employee information obligation: employers with 50 or more employees must inform employees of the average wage within the category of equivalent work. Based on this, employees can check whether they earn more or less than the average within their category.
Duty to inform job applicants: employers must inform job applicants about the salary or pay scale of the vacancy even before the interview. During the job application, employers should not ask the applicant about the previously earned salary. This may in fact perpetuate a pay gap.
Reporting requirement: employers with 100 or more employees are required to report on any pay gap.
Pay review: in case of a pay gap of 5% or more that cannot be objectively explained or remedied within six months, the employer must conduct a pay review. This is a more comprehensive analysis of the gender pay gap, designed to further identify, remedy and prevent it.

Role for Works Council (OR) and reversal of burden of proof

Role for the Works Council: the Works Council (OR) has an important role to play. For instance, the Works Council has a right of consent in determining the objective, gender-neutral criteria for the transparent pay structures and in determining the measures to be taken in case of an unjustifiable pay gap.
Reversal of burden of proof: does an employer not comply with the above-mentioned transparency obligations or reporting obligation? In that case, a legal presumption of wage discrimination applies and the employer will have to prove that the rules on equal pay were indeed complied with.

What does the changed timeline mean for employers now?

The reporting requirement for employers with 150 or more employees will apply for the first time for calendar year 2027 (instead of 2026). Reporting is now due in 2028. The reporting requirement for employers with 100 to 149 employees remains unchanged and starts on 7 June 2030.

Employers with 150 or more employees will thus have to prepare for reporting for calendar year 2027 as early as 2026. Before then, the wage structures with the different categories of equal or equivalent work must be established. The Works Council has a right of consent on the objective criteria to be used to determine the wage structures. The Works Council also has a right to inspect the methods used in preparing the report and a right to be consulted prior to the submission of the report.

Employers would therefore do well to take advantage of the postponement of this directive and use this extra time to get their records in order to establish pay structures.