Poland: The EU Pay Transparency Directive

Implementation and actions

What is the current implementation status and timing?

The implementation of the Directive is partial.

To date, only measures implementing the requirements around pay transparency prior to employment have been enacted and will be implemented into Polish law as of 24 December 2025 (see below for more details).

The remaining provisions of the Directive have not yet been transposed into national law. No draft implementing legislation has been published to date, and there is currently no publicly available information on the anticipated timetable for transposition. However, it is expected that full implementation of the Directive will be carried out in 2026.

What preparatory steps are you advising clients to take, including ensuring they have access to the required data?

Employers should start preparing for the Directive by taking several proactive steps:

• Analysing the organisation's remuneration structure, in particular, by gathering information on all components of pay and other benefits granted to employees;
• Reviewing roles in the organisation in terms of the type of work, scope of duties and responsibilities and carrying out a job evaluation based on the "equal work" or "work of equal value" criterion; and
• Making sure that all information is available digitally.

Additional employers should look to:

• Review job titles across the organisation to ensure gender neutral terminology;
• Decide when and how to inform candidates about remuneration and prepare draft wording for such disclosures;
• Assess the pay grades/pay structure in view of categories of equal work and work of equal value as determined by the Directive;
• Collect information on how pay differences might be justified based on gender-neutral, no-discriminatory reasons;
• Eliminate any unjustified differences in the remuneration and benefits awarded to employees; and
• Determine whether a gender pay gap exists and if yes, take action to harmonise recognised gaps.

Please click here for more on actions employers can take in preparing for the Directive.

Implementing the Directive's requirements

Which workers are in scope?

It is anticipated that the implementation of the Directive in Poland will cover not only employees (i.e. persons working under an employment contract/employment relationship) but also individuals cooperating under civil-law contracts (e.g. contractors). By contrast, the notion of "worker" is not expected to extend to genuinely self-employed persons operating on their own account.

Who will be workers' representatives?

It is anticipated that "workers' representatives" will refer to representatives at company level, such as company-level trade union organisation, employee representatives elected for a specific issue (ad hoc) and the company's works council.

Where an employer does not have any workers' representatives for the purposes of the Directive, it is believed that an employer will have to initiate a process to do so, most likely ad hoc employee representatives elected for the purposes of the Directive.

Are there any proposals around the methodology and tools for assessing "equal value"?

It is not mandatory under Polish law to have a job evaluation system in place and no specific methodology has been announced. It is possible that Polish law will provide that employee representative bodies will have a right of consent regarding job-grading systems.

In Poland, collective agreements do not play a major role with regard to defining categories of employment. It is anticipated that the current categories of employment and payment structure will not be sufficient to justify the catgeorisation and will be challenged against the criteria set out in the Directive.

Polish legislation already mandates equal pay for work of equal value, prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any aspect. The Polish courts have therefore already ruled any times on the meaning of "equal work" and "work of equal value" and these decisions will remain applicable.

How is pay defined?

It is currently unclear how any Polish legislation implementing the Directive will clarify what pay elements are included and excluded from the Directive obligations. It may provide an explicit definition of pay or cross-refer to existing statutes that already define it.

How are the requirements for transparency for job applicants being implemented?

Article 5 of the Directive (pay transparency prior to employment) will be implemented into Polish law as of 24 December 2025. Under the new law:

• employers will be obliged to provide candidates regarding their starting remuneration (or range thereof), alongside relevant provisions of a collective bargaining agreement/remuneration regulations applicable to the position (if applicable to a given employer);
• this information must be provided in the vacancy notice/before the interview (if the employer has not advertised the vacancy notice or has not provided this information in the vacancy notice) or, whether the employer has not advertised the vacancy or has not provided the information in the vacancy notice/before interview, before the employment relationship is established. The information must be provided sufficiently in advance to allow a candidate to negotiate in an informed and transparent manner;
• the information must be provided in writing or electronic form;

The new law also provides that job titles will have to be gender neutral and employers will not be entitled to ask candidates about their salary in current and former workplaces. 

Current position

There is no current obligation to provide job applicants with information on the initial pay or pay range before the job interview. However, there are statutory requirements to conduct a non-discriminatory recruitment process and prevent discrimination on the grounds of gender etc. Additionally, employers may not pay an employee less than others performing comparable work.

How are the requirements for transparency for workers being implemented?

Polish law will need to accommodate these new obligations.

Current position

At present, Polish law mandates equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between female and male employees. There are no specific transparency obligations.

How are the gender pay reporting requirements being implemented?

We are awaiting further details in the implementing legislation. It is anticipated that the Polish law may, in line with the Directive, exempt employers with less than 50 employees, from the duty to provide their workers with information on the criteria for pay progression.

Current position

There are no current reporting requirements in Poland.

When counting workers for the purposes of the Directive's pay reporting thresholds, will only workers of a particular "legal entity" be in scope?

We are awaiting implementing legislation but at present assume that the implementation will refer to the legal entity rather than adopt an even wider understanding of reference to a group of companies. This is the most common approach for laws, including thresholds, in Germany. 

Do we have details on how the requirement for a joint pay assessment will be implemented?

Poland currently imposes no statutory obligation on employers to carry out gender pay audits or publish gender pay gap data.

Do we have details as to how the Directive obligations will be enforced and potential sanctions?

We are awaiting implementing legislation. It is likely that the transposition bill will set administrative fines in case of non-compliance. From practice, it is likely that the fines may be fixed amounts.

Are there any tools or guidance available to support employers?

At present there is no non-statutory guidance providing indications on the gender pay reporting process.