Pay transparency in Netherlands

Employers with 250 workers or more shall, by 7 June 2027 and every year thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.

Employers with 150 to 249 workers shall, by 7 June 2027 and every three years thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.

Employers with 100 to 149 workers shall, by 7 June 2031 and every three years thereafter, provide the information set out in paragraph 1 relating to the previous calendar year.

Member States shall not prevent employers with fewer than 100 workers from providing the information set out in paragraph 1 on a voluntary basis. Member States may, as a matter of national law, require employers with fewer than 100 workers to provide information on pay.

Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that employers who are subject to pay reporting pursuant to Article 9 conduct, in cooperation with their workers’ representatives, a joint pay assessment where all the following conditions are met: (a) the pay reporting demonstrates a difference in the average pay level between female and male workers of at least 5 % in any category of workers; (b) the employer has not justified such a difference in the average pay level on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria; (c) the employer has not remedied such an unjustified difference in the average pay level within six months of the date of submission of the pay reporting.

Applicants for employment shall have the right to receive, from the prospective employer, information about: (a) the initial pay or its range, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, to be attributed for the position concerned; and (b) where applicable, the relevant provisions of the collective agreement applied by the employer in relation to the position. Such information shall be provided in a manner such as to ensure an informed and transparent negotiation on pay, such as in a published job vacancy notice, prior to the job interview or otherwise.

An employer shall not ask applicants about their pay history during their current or previous employment relationships.

Employers shall ensure that job vacancy notices and job titles are gender-neutral and that recruitment processes are led in a non-discriminatory manner, in order not to undermine the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value (the ‘right to equal pay’).

Employers shall make easily accessible to their workers the criteria that are used to determine workers’ pay, pay levels and pay progression. Those criteria shall be objective and gender neutral.

Member States may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the obligation related to the pay progression set out in paragraph 1.

Workers shall have the right to request and receive in writing, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 4, information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs.

Employers shall inform all workers, on an annual basis, of their right to receive the information referred to in paragraph 1 and of the steps that the worker is to undertake to exercise that right.

Employers shall provide the information referred to in paragraph 1 within a reasonable period of time but in any event within two months from the date on which the request is made.