Netherlands: Bill to Implement the European Pay Transparency Directive Published

In 2025, the Netherlands still struggles with a wage gap between men and women. The European legislator aimed to eliminate the wage gap Europewide by introducing the European Pay Transparency Directive on 7 June 2023, which must be implemented by the member states through national legislation. On 26 March 2025, the Dutch implementation of the pay transparency directive was put out to online consultation. Read the article below to find out how the legislator intends to close the wage gap in the Netherlands.

The European Pay Transparency Directive aims to promote equal pay for men and women through the introduction of pay transparency measures. This involves transparency before employment, transparency of remuneration policy, and remuneration development and the right to information.

The Dutch Implementation bill of the EU-Directive is put out to online consultation on 26 March 2025. The most important proposed changes are:

• Employers will no longer be allowed to ask applicants for their most recent payslip or what they earned in previous jobs during the application process.
• Employers will be obligated to indicate wage or wage range in the job vacancy.
• Employers will be required to identify and report pay differences between men and women and report this. This concerns data on the average wage differences in the organisation.
• Employees will have the right to information about their individual level of pay and the average level of pay broken down by gender of employees doing the same or equivalent work. Employers have a duty to inform employees of this right annually.
• Employers with more than 250 employees will have to report annually on wage differences. For employers with 100 to 250 employees, this reporting obligation applies once every three years. If the report shows that the wage difference is 5% or more, the differences must be analysed, after which any unjustified differences should be adjusted and prevented for the future.

If employers do not fulfil these obligations, they risk fines. The internet consultation is open until 7 May 2025. It is not clear yet whether the bill will be amended before being sent to the House of Representatives for review. In any case, the European directive needs to be implemented into Dutch law before 7 June 2026.

Key Points for HR

We will keep you updated on the developments regarding this bill. In preparation, HR can start identifying wage differences and establishing objective criteria for determining salaries.