One in Five Irish Employers See EU Pay Transparency Rules as Unnecessary Burden

A new survey reveals that one in five Irish employers consider incoming EU pay transparency rules an unnecessary burden. Only 31 percent anticipate a positive effect from the directive, which mandates salary range disclosure and strengthens equal pay enforcement to reduce gender pay gaps.

Ireland faces delays in transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive by the June 7 deadline, with up to 16 of 27 member states also behind. Ireland plans a phased approach, starting with salary disclosure in job advertisements. Ger Connolly, an employment law partner at Mason Hayes & Curran, noted that this directive differs from existing gender pay gap reporting by requiring employers to classify workers and ensure equal pay for equal work based on gender-neutral criteria.

Separately, half of employers have not reviewed retirement policies ahead of new laws allowing employees to request to work beyond company retirement age if it is below the State pension age. Employers will have one month to respond. Remote working also poses challenges, with 44 percent of employers finding the current framework inadequate, despite a government review showing 94 percent of requests approved. Connolly clarified that remote working laws grant employees the right to ask, not demand, remote work, and the WRC assesses procedural steps, not the merits of a refusal. The findings are based on a poll of 500 employers.