Commission launches public consultation on EU rules for equal pay

Email item Email item Print item Print item

Commission launches public consultation on EU rules for equal payThe European Commission has launched a public consultation on EU rules which guarantee equal pay between men and women.

The Commission said that this public consultation is to gather information on the impact of EU rules on equal pay.

According to the last statistics issued by Eurostat, the gender pay gap in Gozo and Malta had risen to 11% in all sectors.

The Commission said that the principle of “equal pay for equal work” is enshrined in the EU’s Treaties, and EU law prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex.

This public consultation will gather input from citizens, public authorities, social partners, civil society and researchers to find ways to better implement and enforce the equal pay principle enshrined in the Gender Equality Directive and the 2014 Pay Transparency Recommendation.

EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Commissioner Jourová said: “Women still earn on average 16.2% less than men in the EU. This is simply unfair. This inequality hasn’t changed over the last several years. We need to work together to bring change and make sure this inequality becomes a thing of the past.”

The public consultation is one of many actions of the European Commission’s Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap, launched in November 2017. This action plan follows up on the 2014 Pay Transparency Recommendation, which raised awareness on the gender pay gap and encouraged companies to revise their pay structures.

The Commission said that the 2017 Implementation Report of this Recommendation showed that in a third of Member States, transparency measures still do not exist.

It also concluded that the persisting gender pay gap and this limited follow-up calls for possible further measures at EU level. Today’s public consultation will feed into this assessment.

The consultation on EU legislation on equal pay is available online by clicking here and is open until the 5th of April.

  • Permalink: Commission launches public consultation on EU rules for equal pay
  • You may also like...

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *