Pay transparency 2026-2031: a complete guide for companies

1. What pay transparency is and who it applies to

Pay transparency is the set of rules that makes the criteria by which a company pays its people knowable, and makes the differences between men and women doing the same work or work of equal value measurable. The principle of equal pay already existed; now the company must make it verifiable, before hiring and throughout the employment relationship.

The reference law is Legislative Decree no. 96 of 7 May 2026, published in the Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale) no. 125 of 1 June 2026 and in force since 7 June 2026 (Article 17). It implements Directive (EU) 2023/970 of 10 May 2023. The Directive binds the Member States; the obligations of Italian companies are those written in the decree, and it is the decree that this guide refers to.

Who is involved

The decree applies to public and private employers (Article 2). It covers fixed-term and permanent contracts of subordinate employment, including part-time ones and managerial positions. Domestic work and intermittent (on-call) work are excluded. For the recruitment rules (Article 5) the decree also applies to candidates, who therefore have rights even before being hired.

The terms you need

Some calculation choices depend on the definitions in Article 3.

For the purposes of the decree, the employer is not required to collect personal data other than data on sex (Article 3(2)). No new sensitive information about employees is therefore needed: what is needed is for the information already held to be complete and consistent.

The biennial report on the personnel situation and gender equality certification are separate obligations, with their own rules, and Legislative Decree 96/2026 does not refer to them. They are covered in the in-depth article Gender equality at work: biennial report and certification (in Italian).

2. The obligations that apply to every company with employees

The size thresholds in the decree add obligations; they do not remove any: from 50 employees, the pay progression criteria; from 100, periodic reporting of gap data and any joint pay assessment. The rest applies to anyone with employees on subordinate contracts, even with ten employees. Someone who reads “100 employees” in a headline may conclude that there is time, when most of the obligations are already in force for them too.

The ban on clauses that prevent workers from disclosing their own pay also applies to everyone (Article 7(6)). To check it, it is enough to reread the hiring letter templates, additional agreements and internal regulations. A sentence such as “the employee undertakes to keep the financial terms of this contract confidential” now restricts an entitlement that the decree grants to the worker.

What to check this week

• Online job adverts show the starting pay or pay range
• Application forms and interview sheets do not ask for current or previous pay
• Agencies and external recruiters have received written instructions on the ban
• Hiring letter templates contain no confidentiality clauses on pay
• There is a document setting out the pay criteria, with date and version
• It has been decided who receives requests for information and who replies

3. What size adds: 50, 100, 150 and 250 employees

For a company with between 100 and 149 employees 2031 may seem a long way off, but it concerns only the reporting: job adverts, criteria, workers' requests and the burden of proof already apply today.

How employees are counted

For the threshold of 50, the decree states how employees are to be counted: Article 18, paragraphs eight and nine, of the Workers' Statute (Law 300/1970) and Articles 9, 18, 27 and 47 of Legislative Decree 81/2015 (D.Lgs. 81/2015) (Article 6(3)). For the thresholds of 100, 150 and 250, Article 9 refers to employers that “employ” that number of employees, without referring to a specific counting rule. The way of counting should therefore be decided with the labour consultant and put in writing, together with the reference date used.

Corporate groups

With a single group-wide pay policy, data can be aggregated at national level (Article 9(3)), and the comparison may involve workers of different companies in the same group when pay conditions derive from the same contracts or regulations (Article 4(5)). Categories should therefore be designed on a group-wide scope.

The year-by-year calendar, with the budget choices that follow from it, is in the in-depth article Pay transparency: obligations and deadlines (in Italian).

4. Job adverts and recruitment: pay range and previous pay

In recruitment the obligation applies before any payslip exists: anyone publishing an advert tomorrow must already comply.

Pay in job adverts

Candidates must be given information on the starting pay or the relevant pay range, defined using objective, gender-neutral criteria, and on the provisions of the applicable collective agreement that are relevant to the position. The decree specifies where: in job notices and vacancy announcements (Article 5(1)), so not only at the first interview.

The decree sets no maximum width for the range. A range from 25,000 to 60,000 euro does not hold up if someone asks on what criteria it was built: the most solid reference is the internal range of the category in which the person will be classified.

The ban on asking for previous pay

Candidates may not be asked for information about the pay received in their current or previous employment. Nor may the employer obtain it in any other way, even indirectly through those to whom it has entrusted recruitment or hiring (Article 5(2)). The question can come from several points, and it is enough for one to stay open:

The decree bans questions about current and previous pay and does not mention candidates' expectations. If these are asked, interviewers must know that they cannot become a way of reconstructing the last payslip.

Neutral adverts and procedures

Recruitment and hiring must be conducted in a non-discriminatory way, with gender-neutral notices, including in the professional titles required (Article 5(3)). Besides stating the job title in both genders, it is worth checking that every requirement really serves the role.

5. The same work, work of equal value and categories of workers

All the decree's comparisons are made within a category of workers: those doing the same work or work of equal value. Building the categories well is the long part of compliance, and it is what makes every number that follows defensible.

What the decree says

• The same work: identical duties, or attributable to the same illustrative job profile, at the same pay level and in the same legal classification category of the applicable CCNL (Article 4(2)(a)).
• Work of equal value: different but comparable duties, provided for by the classification levels of the applicable CCNL (Article 4(2)(b)).
• Evaluation criteria: common, objective and gender-neutral, taking account of skills, responsibilities and working conditions, as well as other factors relevant to the position (Article 4(3)).
• Reference: the classification and grading systems of CCNLs, of decentralised or supplementary bargaining, or of the law. Classification and evaluation systems decided by the employer are allowed, to supplement the CCNL, if based on objective and gender-neutral criteria (Article 4(4)).

The starting point is the classification level, which however may not be enough on its own: duties with different responsibilities can coexist at the same level. A category that is too broad brings out gaps that have an explanation; one that is too narrow leaves groups of one or two people, who cannot be compared without revealing individual pay.

A practical way to start

Anyone tackling the subject for the first time may imagine having to redo the classification of the whole company before being able to write a single number. This is not necessary. To start, two criteria above the CCNL level are enough: one of responsibility (for example the role band, from staff member to function head) and one of skills and work performed (the job family, such as administration, sales, production). These are the same factors that Article 4(3) asks to be considered; the choice should in any case be validated with the labour consultant.

Every choice, such as merging or separating two job families, must be justified in writing on the day it is made. Sex is not part of the key: it is the dimension on which the gap is measured within the category.

The CCNL defines the levels; labour consultancy helps to choose the additional criteria and to write them down. What remains for the company is to apply them to each person, keep them up to date when the organisation changes and retain the version in force at every moment.

6. Pay and progression criteria: what to make accessible

Employers make accessible to workers the criteria used to determine pay and pay levels and those for pay progression (Article 6(1)). Below 50 employees the obligation on progression criteria does not apply (Article 6(3)).

The role of the collective agreement

The information notice given at hiring under Legislative Decree 152/1997 (D.Lgs. 152/1997) is the ordinary way of complying. For employers applying a CCNL signed by the comparatively most representative organisations, the obligation is deemed fulfilled by referring to the criteria, levels and pay terms of the agreement and to any company agreements (Article 6(2)). In addition, applying that CCNL creates a presumption of compliance with the principles of equal pay and transparency (Article 4(1)).

The same sentence of Article 4 does, however, add a limit: proof of the existence of discriminatory individual pay treatment remains possible. The collective agreement covers the structure. What the CCNL does not decide, the company must be able to explain on its own.

What the CCNL does not decide

The criterion is the rule by which a decision is made, not a list of pay figures. It must be written in an understandable way, published where workers consult it, and dated; when it changes, the previous version is kept: a raise decided in March 2027 is judged against the criterion in force in March 2027.

7. The right to information: request, reply within two months, annual notice

Every worker has the right to ask for and receive in writing, within two months of the request, information on the average pay levels, broken down by sex, of the categories of workers doing the same work or work of equal value (Article 7(1)). They may do so personally or, by delegation, through workers' representatives or equality bodies. The right cannot be exercised more than once a year.

What the decree provides, point by point

• Publication instead of a reply: the obligation can be met by publishing the information on the intranet or in the restricted area of the company website (Article 7(2)).
• Annual notice: every year all workers must be informed of the right and of how to exercise it (Article 7(4)).
• Clarifications: if the information is inaccurate or incomplete, the worker may ask for clarifications, and the reply must be reasoned (Article 7(5)).
• Up to 49 employees: the information may be provided in the ways defined by the ministerial decrees provided for in Article 9(4) (Article 7(8)).

How to organise the reply

Small groups

In a category with only one woman or one man, the average “by sex” is the same as that person's pay. When the information under Articles 7, 9 and 10 reveals, directly or indirectly, the pay of an identifiable worker, access is restricted to workers' representatives, the Labour Inspectorate (Ispettorato del lavoro) and equality bodies (Article 11(2)). How to handle these cases should be decided before the first request.

8. The gender pay gap: indicators and calculation

For employers with at least 100 employees, Article 9 lists the data to be reported. Below the threshold, calculating them is still useful: they are the basis for replies to workers and for defence in court.

A calculation example

A category of ten people: six women and four men, all full-time, annual gross pay level (fixed and continuous elements only).

The formula is the one in Article 3: the difference between the mean (or median) levels of men and women, as a percentage of the men's level. With part-time work, hourly pay counts, as included in the definition of pay level: each person's contractual hours must be correct and dated.

Who confirms the data and who sees it

The employer confirms the accuracy of the data after consulting workers' representatives, who have access to the methodologies (Article 9(2)). Data a) to f) are published by the monitoring body at the Ministry of Labour (Article 9(5)); the figure by category, point g), must be made accessible to workers and their representatives, together with the four previous years if requested and available (Article 9(6)). Requests for clarification are answered with reasons within sixty days (Article 9(7)).

The methods for collecting and transmitting the data are entrusted to one or more decrees of the Minister of Labour, after consulting the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali), to be adopted within ninety days of entry into force (Article 9(4)). Before preparing the first report, it is advisable to check on Normattiva, in the decree's record, which implementing acts have been published.

9. The 5% threshold and joint assessment

The 5% is not an automatic presumption of discrimination. Article 10 requires employers that have to report data to carry out a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives only when all of these conditions are met:

1. in any category of workers, the difference in average pay level between women and men is at least 5%;
2. the employer has not justified the difference with objective, gender-neutral criteria;
3. the employer has not corrected it within six months of the date of the data report.

In the example in the previous section the mean gap is 5.5%, so above the threshold for a company required to report. If two of the four men have been in the category for several years and the difference comes from the seniority increments provided for by the CCNL, the explanation rests on a criterion set by the contract: it must be written down with the supporting data and checked with the consultant. If instead the difference comes from above-minimum supplements granted without a rule, there is no justification and the six months serve to correct it.

What the joint assessment includes

Under Article 10(2), the joint assessment includes, category by category, the share of women and men, the average pay levels and variable components by sex, the differences and their reasons. In addition:

• the percentage of women and men who received a pay improvement on returning from maternity, paternity, parental or care leave, if the improvement took place in the category during the leave;
• the measures to address unjustified differences and the assessment of the effectiveness of previous measures.

The outcomes must be made available to workers and communicated to the monitoring body (Article 10(3)); corrective measures are adopted within a reasonable period, with the representatives (Article 10(4)).

The leave item should be prepared in good time: you need to know who has been on leave, when, and whether there were pay rises in their category in the same period. These data are held in different systems and must be linked using the right dates.

10. Burden of proof and evidence to keep

For violations, the judicial protection of the Equal Opportunities Code (Codice delle pari opportunità tra uomo e donna), Legislative Decree 198/2006, applies; it can be triggered, by delegation, also by workers' representatives, trade unions and associations (Article 12); for established discrimination, Article 41 of the Code applies (Article 13).

The rule to bear in mind is that of Article 40 of the Code: when the worker provides factual elements, including statistical ones, relating among other things to pay systems, capable of establishing in precise and consistent terms a presumption of discrimination, it is for the employer to prove that there is no discrimination. This rule does not depend on the size of the company.

In court you must be able to show which criteria were in force when a decision was taken, and with what data. A sheet updated every year on top of the previous version shows today's situation, not that of the day of the decision.

The decree sets no retention period for this evidence. It does provide, however, that on request the category data be supplied also for the four previous years, if available (Article 9(6)). The duration should be decided with the legal adviser and the privacy lead; data processed for transparency purposes are not used for other purposes (Article 11(3)).

11. The data you need and payroll software

The data needed usually already exist, but are held in different places: pay in the payroll software, in-house or at the bureau that processes payslips; classification, location and working hours in the personnel records; roles and responsibilities in the organisation chart; adverts and offers in the recruitment software or in emails.

Checks to carry out before calculating

• Every worker has level, CCNL, location and contractual hours filled in and dated
• Every pay item is classified as fixed or variable
• Hours and part-time percentage are consistent with the hours paid
• People with more than one employment relationship in the same year are treated under a single rule
• Changes of level, role and pay have an effective date
• No category contains people who should not be in it

A gap calculated on wrongly classified items is a wrong number with a right formula, and once reported it cannot be withdrawn.

Do you need to change your payroll software?

No. The decree does not ask for specific software and does not affect payslip processing. The payroll software remains the source of pay; what is needed in addition is what payroll usually does not contain: the category of workers, the criteria with their versions, the pay ranges in adverts, the register of requests. The subject is developed in the in-depth article Pay transparency: do you need to change your payroll software? (in Italian); how the EcosAgile module works with the payroll software already in use is explained on the People Compensation page (in Italian).

“We do it with an Excel sheet”: for the first calculation it works. The difficulties arrive when you have to show which version of the criteria applied a year and a half earlier, or when a reorganisation moves thirty people from one category to another. If the spreadsheet remains the tool, every version must be saved with its date and never overwritten.

12. A compliance plan in six steps

Order matters: the first two steps concern obligations already in force and are completed in a few weeks; the others build the foundation that will be needed for years.

1. Scope. Count employees with the chosen and documented criterion, list companies, CCNLs applied and locations, identify the first reporting deadline if you exceed 100 employees.
2. Recruitment. Update adverts and templates, close all points where previous pay is collected, instruct agencies and recruiters in writing.
3. Categories of workers. Start from the CCNL levels, add one criterion of responsibility and one of skills, assign each person to a category and justify the choices.
4. Written criteria. Put in writing the rules for entry pay, above-minimum supplements, pay rises, bonuses and, from 50 employees, progression; publish them where workers consult them.
5. Workers' requests. Establish who receives, who extracts the data, who checks confidentiality and who signs; prepare the reply template and the annual notice.
6. First trial calculation. Calculate the Article 9 indicators on today's data, category by category, and write the justification for every difference of 5% or more.

Anyone starting now can spread the corrective measures over several financial years. Anyone waiting for the first deadline risks discovering the gaps when only six months remain to correct them.

14. Frequently asked questions