Salary transparency: what companies must do from June 7, 2026

Spain should have transposed this regulation into its domestic legal system before this date, but the transposition process is not yet complete. This does not exempt companies from their obligations: the Directive is directly applicable, and the Labor Inspectorate has already included pay transparency among its priority areas of action for the 2025-2027 period. Puigverd Assessors explains what changes and how you should proceed.

What is the Salary Transparency Directive?

Directive (EU) 2023/970, adopted on 10 May 2023 by the European Parliament and the Council, reinforces the principle of equal pay for women and men for the same work or work of equal value. Its premise is clear: without accessible salary information, it is impossible to detect inequality and claim redress. It applies to all employers, both in the public and private sectors, regardless of the number of employees.

In Spain, the gender pay gap is around 7.3% per hour worked, according to Eurostat. European regulations establish a demanding framework to reduce it, with specific obligations affecting recruitment processes, internal salary policies, and communication with employees.

Job offers: you must indicate the salary

One of the most visible measures is the requirement that job postings include the starting salary or a salary range for the position, based on objective and neutral criteria. This information must be provided in the advertisement or, at the latest, before the first interview.

Furthermore, it is expressly forbidden to ask the candidate how much they earned in their previous job. Salary must be determined based on the skills and requirements of the position, not on the individual's pay history, which is often the mechanism that perpetuates inequalities from one job to another.

Workers' right to information

Once hired, any employee may request in writing information about their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories performing the same work or work of equal value. The company is obligated to provide this information.

This implies that companies must have defined objective criteria for professional classification and salary setting, and must be able to justify in writing any existing pay differences.

When the gap exceeds 5%, it must be corrected.

The Directive introduces an automatic threshold of 5%, a significant change from the current Spanish framework, where the threshold triggering the obligation for enhanced justification in the pay register was 25%. If, in any professional category, the average pay gap between women and men is equal to or greater than 5% and cannot be justified using objective and neutral criteria, the company is obliged to take action.

Specifically, a joint pay review must be conducted with the workers' legal representatives. This review must include a detailed diagnosis by job category, identification of the causes of the pay gap, and the formulation of corrective measures. The deadline for addressing the pay gap is six months from the date the report is submitted.

It's important to note that this threshold is applied category by category, independently. A company can have an overall gap close to zero and, at the same time, exceed 5% in a specific professional group, which would still trigger the obligation.

Obligation to report on the gender pay gap: schedule by size

Not all companies have the same reporting obligations regarding the gender pay gap:

• Companies with more than 250 employees: report annually, with the first submission scheduled for June 7, 2027.
• Companies with between 150 and 250 employees: report every three years.
• Companies with between 100 and 149 employees: report every three years.
• Companies with fewer than 100 employees: no reporting obligation, but they can do so voluntarily.

Although the smallest SMEs are not required to report, they are subject to the other obligations: transparency in offers, prohibition of asking about previous salary and the right of workers to information.

Sanctions and reversal of the burden of proof

The Directive strengthens the position of workers in the event of a dispute: if a company cannot demonstrate that pay differences are based on objective criteria, the burden of proof falls on the employer. The sanctions regime must be effective and proportionate, and the regulation provides for the possibility of full compensation without limits, which considerably increases the legal and reputational risk of an opaque pay policy.

What should we do now?

Regardless of company size, it's advisable to check if job postings already include salary information, eliminate any practice of asking candidates about their previous salary, update the mandatory pay register—in force in Spain since 2021—and verify if there are pay gaps by category exceeding 5%. Acting proactively allows for correcting risky situations before they trigger an inspection.

The labor team at Puigverd Assessors advises companies and self-employed individuals in the Vallès and Barcelonès regions on all their labor obligations. For any questions regarding adapting to the new regulations, please contact the firm.