The European Union wanted to make the wages of men and women equal: the European Commission (EC) presented a legislative proposal on transparency of wages and guarantees of equal pay for equal work for women and men in the EU. On Thursday, March 4, Interfax reports.
The EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli presented the project.
“The pay transparency proposal is an important step towards the principle of equal pay for work of equal or equal work between women and men. It will enable workers to uphold the right to equal pay and end gender pay bias.” she said.
The proposal focuses on making salaries transparent and “improving access to justice for victims of discrimination” in this area. Employers with at least 250 employees must also publish information on the pay gap between women and men. Employees will be eligible for compensation for pay discrimination.
Now the bill will be sent for approval to the European Parliament and the EU Council. If adopted, the member states of the union will have two years to transpose it into national legislation. The EC press release specifies that the implementation and application of the right to equal pay for women and men for work of equal or equal value in practice remains “a serious problem in the countries of the union.”
The coronavirus pandemic has forced people around the world to work less, according to a study by ZipRecruiter. The share of vacancies offering a four-day work week has tripled over the past few years. There are 62 vacancies with such conditions per 10 thousand applicants.