EU Directive 2023/970 on pay transparency requires Polish employers to introduce salary range disclosure, structured pay reporting and – where a gender pay gap is identified – a joint pay assessment. Poland has announced a delay in transposing the Directive, meaning the precise national rules are not yet in force; however, the EU-level transposition deadline of 7 June 2026 places a firm outer boundary on the legislative timeline, and employers who begin compliance work now will be significantly better positioned than those who wait for the national act to be published.
Why This Matters Now for Businesses Operating in Poland
The Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 represents the most substantive reform to equal-pay enforcement in the European Union in decades. Unlike earlier soft-law instruments, it creates enforceable individual rights – including the right to receive information about pay levels for comparable roles – and requires employers to produce and disclose structured pay-gap data. For international groups with Polish subsidiaries, the implications extend well beyond HR administration: they touch employment contracts, collective agreements, internal job-evaluation systems and cross-border data flows.
Poland is among the EU member states that have announced delays to national implementation. As of the time of writing, no adopted transposition act exists, and the precise contours of Polish national rules – including enforcement authorities, penalty levels and procedural steps – remain subject to the forthcoming national legislation. What is already certain is that first pay-gap reports for employers with 250 or more employees must be submitted by 7 June 2027, and that the Directive's core obligations will apply in Poland no later than the EU transposition deadline of 7 June 2026.
If your organisation has not yet begun a pay-equity audit or gap analysis in Poland, the window for orderly preparation is narrowing. Contact Ferraz & Whitmore or write to info@ferrazwhitmore.com to discuss your current exposure and what a phased compliance programme might look like.
Core Obligations Under the Directive
Regardless of how Poland finalises its national transposition, the Directive establishes a set of minimum obligations that Polish legislation must replicate or exceed. Employers should structure their internal preparations around these requirements.
- Salary range disclosure before hiring: Job applicants must be informed of the initial salary or salary range for a position. Employers may not ask candidates about their pay history.
- Right to pay information: Employees will be entitled to request data on their own pay level and on average pay levels – broken down by sex – for categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value.
- Pay reporting: Employers with 250 or more employees must report gender pay gap data by 7 June 2027. Employers with 100–249 employees face a later initial reporting date under the Directive's phased schedule. The reporting obligation covers the pay gap calculated across the entire workforce and within individual pay categories.
- Joint pay assessment: Where reported data reveals a pay gap of a defined threshold (the threshold is set by the Directive, with national implementing rules to confirm the mechanism), employers must carry out a joint pay assessment together with employee representatives.
- Burden of proof shift: In equal-pay disputes before national courts or tribunals – which in Poland ultimately includes proceedings that may reach the Sąd Najwyższy – the burden of proving that no pay discrimination occurred shifts to the employer once an employee demonstrates a difference in pay.
The Polish Legal Landscape: What Is Pending
Poland has indicated it will not meet the 7 June 2026 transposition deadline. This position is shared by several other member states, including France, Finland and Ireland. In practical terms, a delayed national act creates a period of legal uncertainty: the Directive's provisions that are sufficiently precise and unconditional may have direct effect against state employers, while private employers await the national act before all procedural details are confirmed.
Polish employers should not interpret the legislative delay as an opportunity to defer internal action. The underlying obligation – equal pay for equal work – already exists in Polish labour law and in EU primary law. What the Directive adds is a procedural and reporting architecture that will, once transposed, be enforced through mechanisms to be designated by the Polish legislature. The relevant enforcement and registration authorities (including those overseeing corporate compliance matters recorded in the KRS) will be specified in the implementing act.
For employers in the financial sector, any interaction between pay-transparency obligations and existing reporting frameworks administered by the KNF will also require attention, particularly where remuneration policies are subject to separate supervisory rules.
How the Compliance Process Works
Pay transparency compliance is not a single filing – it is a structured programme that typically runs across several workstreams: job evaluation and work-of-equal-value mapping, pay equity analysis, contract and policy review, and the design of reporting and communication processes. The process involves choices that will have lasting effects on how pay is set and reviewed within the organisation.
A detailed, step-by-step breakdown of the compliance methodology we use for Polish-based employers – covering timelines, documentation requirements and how to structure a joint pay assessment – is set out in our Pay Transparency Compliance Guide for Poland. That guide is updated as national developments emerge. This page focuses on the advisory and legal support Ferraz & Whitmore provides at each stage.
Common Pitfalls for International Employers
Businesses operating in Poland as part of a multinational group frequently encounter the same set of difficulties when approaching pay transparency compliance. Awareness of these risks allows for earlier mitigation.
- Inconsistent job architecture across borders: Groups that have not harmonised their job-grading systems face serious difficulty when trying to identify "work of equal value" within a single entity. This is particularly acute for sp. z o.o. subsidiaries that use a parent-group grading scheme designed for a different jurisdiction.
- Deferred gap analysis: Many employers assume the pay gap will be within an acceptable range and postpone measurement. The Directive does not set a "safe harbour" gap level below which no action is needed; it requires disclosure of the actual figure.
- Insufficient employee consultation structures: The joint pay assessment requires engagement with employee representatives. Employers without established consultation structures will need to create them before the assessment can lawfully proceed.
- Conflating pay transparency with publication of individual salaries: The Directive does not require individual salaries to be made public. It requires ranges and aggregate data to be disclosed in defined contexts. Miscommunication on this point can create unnecessary internal anxiety.
- Cross-border data-transfer issues: Pay data is personal data. Where a Polish subsidiary shares data with a group parent outside the EEA for the purpose of group-level reporting, GDPR transfer mechanisms must be in place.
Cross-Border Dimension: Poland Within a Group Structure
For international employers, Polish pay transparency obligations do not exist in isolation. Groups with operations in multiple EU member states must consider how national implementing acts interact. Germany and Spain, for example, had not published draft transposition legislation as of June 2026, while the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Denmark were targeting 1 January 2027 for implementation. Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania and Malta transposed the Directive by the original deadline. Belgium formally requested an extension.
This patchwork of timelines means that a group-level compliance programme must accommodate different speeds of implementation across jurisdictions. Where one entity in a group meets the 250-employee reporting threshold while others do not yet, the reporting entity's data may nonetheless reflect group-wide pay structures.
Our employment law teams in multiple EU jurisdictions work together on cross-border mandates of this kind. For a comparison of the Polish and German approaches – which share certain structural features – see our page on pay transparency compliance in Germany.
How Ferraz & Whitmore Supports Clients in Poland
Our employment law practice in Poland advises international businesses, investment funds and domestically-headquartered groups on the full lifecycle of pay transparency compliance. Our work in this area typically involves the following.
- Pay equity audits and gap quantification, including statistical analysis of pay data by gender and by pay band.
- Review and revision of employment contracts, offer letter templates and job-posting standards to meet the salary range disclosure obligation.
- Design of internal pay information processes that satisfy employee rights to data without creating unintended disclosures.
- Drafting of the pay reporting methodology and preparation of the first submission documentation for employers meeting the 250-employee threshold.
- Advising on the joint pay assessment process, including the establishment or engagement of employee representative bodies where none currently exists.
- Coordinating with group-level counsel in other EU jurisdictions to ensure a consistent compliance architecture.
- Monitoring of Polish legislative developments and updating clients as the national implementing act progresses through the legislative process.
We do not offer a standardised compliance template that treats all employers identically. Pay structures, collective bargaining arrangements and corporate histories differ significantly, and the approach we take reflects those differences.
Self-Assessment: Is Your Organisation Ready?
The following checklist is a starting point for assessing your current state of readiness. It is not a substitute for legal advice, but it identifies the areas where gaps are most commonly found.
- Do your recruitment processes currently include salary range disclosure in job postings or offer documentation?
- Do you have a job-evaluation methodology that allows you to identify work of equal value across different roles?
- Can your payroll and HR systems produce a gender pay gap analysis at the level of detail the Directive requires?
- Do you have a clear understanding of which legal entities in Poland meet or approach the 100- and 250-employee thresholds?
- Are there existing collective agreements or works council arrangements that will be relevant to the joint pay assessment process?
- Have you reviewed your employment contracts for clauses that limit employees' ability to discuss pay – such clauses will be unenforceable under the Directive?
- Is your cross-border data-transfer framework adequate for sharing pay data with a group parent or regional HR centre?
If several of these questions cannot be answered with confidence, your organisation would benefit from a structured gap analysis before national transposition legislation is enacted. Early identification of structural issues – particularly in job evaluation and pay-band architecture – allows time for remediation that would be far more disruptive if left until the first reporting cycle.
To discuss your organisation's specific situation in Poland or across multiple EU jurisdictions, write to info@ferrazwhitmore.com or visit our contacts page to arrange a preliminary consultation.
Disclaimer: This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. Ferraz & Whitmore assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@ferrazwhitmore.com.