Draft legislation to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive in Slovakia

The Slovakian government has submitted draft legislation to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) into local law. The draft law would fully transpose the directive's provisions and closely follow the text of the directive. The law would apply to all employers in the public and private sectors, with certain reporting requirements applicable to companies with 100 or more employees. Slovakia has one of the highest gender-based pay gaps in the EU among full-time workers, with men earning on average around 15% more than women (2023 Eurostat data).

New requirements would include:

• Pay transparency during recruitment: Employers would need to provide information on the initial pay and benefits levels (or range) in the job posting or before interview or prior to contract. Employers would also be prohibited from inquiring into job applicants' current salary or salary history
• Transparency on pay setting: Employers would be required to make available to workers information on the criteria used to determine pay and benefit levels and pay progression (which must be objective and gender-neutral)
• Employee right to request: Employees would have the right to information on their individual pay level and average pay levels for workers performing the same work or work of equal value, broken down by gender
• Pay gap reporting: Organizations with 100 or more employees would be required to report periodically on gender-based pay gaps by entity and category of worker; every three years for employers with 100 to 249 workers, and annually for larger employers. Entity-level gaps are to be reported to the local regulator; category of worker gaps are to be reported internally and to employee representatives. In the event of pay gaps of 5% or more by worker category that employers cannot justify or correct within six months, the employer would need to carry out a joint pay assessment in cooperation with employee representatives and develop an action plan to close the gap
• Pay structures: Employers would be required to have formal pay structures, as well as to determine worker categories using gender-neutral job factors (such as responsibility, skills, effort and working conditions). Pay structures and pay increases would need to be aligned to these criteria and categories

The government is planning for the new legislation to take effect on 1 June, 2026, with employers needing to comply with all the requirements from June 2026 except for pay gap reporting which will commence in June 2027 for employers with 150 or more employees and in June 2031 for employers with 100 to 149 employees. Employers should prepare for the likely implementation of the pay transparency legislation, including the development of any databases and reporting systems to support compliance.

Contacts

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Tamsin Sridhara

Global Pay Equity Lead

email Email

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Eva Jesmiatka

Europe Pay Equity Lead, WTW

email Email phone + 44 20 7170 2039

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