From next year, all workers will have the right to know the salary of colleagues who carry out their own tasks. Our country, in fact, will soon have to receive the EU directive that aims to end gender gaps and which will allow you to fight the wage difference between men and women.
An urgent choice dictated by the latest data on the wage gap: according to the last Global Gender Gap Report 2025 of World Economic Forumwage equality for similar works stops at 0.675, while the representation of women in positions of high officials and managers is only 27.96% (score 0,2796).
We talked about it here: Italy, the gender gap is reduced but the road is still long: 123 years are needed for equality
With the aim, therefore, to put an end to these inequalities and promote greater transparency and equity in public and private companies, in the text it is specified that workers can “request and receive information on their individual remuneration level and on the average pay levels, divided by sex, of the categories of workers who do the same work or a work of equal value”.
What the EU directive disposes
As can be read in article 2, the EU directive 2023/970 applies “To all workers who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the right, collective agreements and/or practices in force in each Member State, taking into consideration the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice“. The Punta directive”to strengthen the application of the principle of equality of remuneration between men and women for the same work or for a work of equal value through remuneration transparency and the related application mechanisms“.
In case of remuneration discrimination based on the genre, the directive establishes a compensationor:
The full recovery of backward wages and related bonuses or payments in nature, compensation for lost opportunities, immaterial damage, the damage caused by other relevant factors that may include intersectional discrimination, as well as default interest.
In case of dispute, it is the employer who must demonstrate that he has not violated the European standard.
How can I ask for information on my colleagues’ paycheck?
From the moment the directive will be transposed, it will be possible to “Request and receive in writing information on their individual remuneration level and on the average salary levels, divided by sex, of the categories of workers who do the same job or a job of equal value“.
These are information that we can also ask through representatives or an organism for equality. To respond, the employer has two months from the date of the request.
If the information received is inaccurate or incomplete, the workers have the right to request, personally or through their workers’ representatives, clarifications and further and reasonable details regarding the data provided and receiving a motivated response, we still read in the text.
Overcoming the gender gap is not only a question of social justice, but a necessary step to build a more modern, transparent and meritocratic work. The EU directive represents a concrete turning point, no longer postponed, to unhinge a system that has penalized women too long.
Making inequalities visible is the first step to eliminate them. Now it’s up to the Member States – and Italy First of all – Receive this rule with seriousness and foresight. Because fair work is a right, not a privilege.
