EU Pay Transparency Directive Forces Employers to Publish Salary Details, Romania Leads Implementation

The European Union’s 2023/970 pay‑transparency directive has come into force across member states. It obliges employers to disclose the starting salary or salary range in job postings or before interviews and bans requests for candidates’ previous pay. Companies with at least 100 employees must publish gender‑pay‑gap data and carry out assessments if an unexplained gap of 5 % or more is found. Employees can request information on their own salary and on average pay for comparable roles, broken down by sex, and may receive compensation for proven gender‑based pay discrimination.

In Romania, the rules take effect on 7 June. Employers must justify any wage differences with objective, documented criteria and may face fines of 10,000–30,000 lei for non‑compliance. The measure aims to narrow the EU’s average gender pay gap of about 11.1 % (Romania’s gap is roughly 3.7 %). Enforcement bodies and workers’ representatives can assist employees in legal or administrative proceedings.