New Pay Transparency Legislation in Italy: Key Employer Obligations and Compliance Steps

New pay transparency legislation in Italy introduces significant new employer obligations, including salary transparency in recruitment, employee pay information rights and gender pay gap reporting.

Our Italian member firm, LCA Studio Legale, breaks down the key changes in this article:

• From June 7, 2026, employers must provide salary or pay range information in job advertisements and cannot ask candidates about their salary history
  
• Employers must make pay-setting criteria accessible to employees and establish processes to respond to annual requests for gender pay information
  
• Employers with 100 or more employees will face additional gender pay gap reporting obligations, with phased implementation beginning in 2027
  
• Where unjustified gender pay gaps of at least 5% are identified, employers may be required to carry out a joint pay assessment with employee representatives
  
• Employers should review recruitment practices, pay policies and internal reporting procedures now to prepare for the new compliance requirements

Legislative Decree No. 96 of May 7, 2026 (the "Decree") was published in the Official Gazzetta on June 1, 2026, implementing Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency and introducing a system to avoid gender pay discrimination in Italy. 

The Decree, effective from June 7, 2026, addresses key aspects of the employment relationship: disclosure obligations in the pre-hiring phase, employees' right to information during the employment relationship, gender pay gap reporting, joint pay assessment and the sanctions regime. 

Below are the main changes introduced by the Decree and the actions to be taken. 

Effective date: June 7, 2026 

Scope of application

The Decree applies to all employers (public and private) in relation to: 

• Employment relationships, whether fixed-term or open-ended, including part-time and executive relationships

• Job applicants 

The following are excluded from the Decree's scope of application: 

• Domestic employment relationships 

• Job on call 

Obligations for all employers
(regardless of the number of employees) 

Pay transparency 

The employer: 

• Must provide candidates with information regarding the initial salary or relevant pay range to be attributed to the position, based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, and the relevant provisions of the NCBA in relation to the position. Such information must be provided in the notices and announcements publicizing job opportunities 
  

• When publishing job opportunities in notices and announcements, must use gender-neutral criteria, including in relation to the required professional qualifications 
  

• Is prohibited to ask candidates for information about their current or previous salaries (directly or indirectly through third parties entrusted with the selection or hiring process) 

Actions to take: 

• Review and update all job posting; 
  

• Review and update internal selection and hiring procedures 
  

• Provide training to managers and those involved in recruitment activities 

Transparency of pay determination and criteria for pay progression 

Employers must make accessible to employees the criteria used to determine: 

• Remuneration and pay level (for the purposes of the Decree, “pay level” means the corresponding gross hourly pay, to be understood as the totality of continuous and fixed remuneration components, excluding non-structural individual financial benefits such as remuneration components awarded on a personal, discretionary or temporary basis that are not generalized within the same category of workers and are based on individual objective criteria) 
  

• Criteria for employees' pay progression (only for employers with at least 50 employees) 

With respect to the above: 

• Employers may fulfil the obligation to provide access to information through a notice given to the employee at the start of the employment relationship (i.e. notice pursuant to the Transparency Decree) 
  

• For employers that apply a NCBA entered into by comparatively more representative trade union organizations at national level or equivalent, the obligation is deemed fulfilled by reference to the classification criteria, grading levels and economic terms provided for by the collective agreement 

Actions to take: 

• Review/draft the remuneration policy 

• Review/draft the notice pursuant to the Transparency Decree 

• Verify whether the applicable NCBA is among those most representative at national level 

• Verify the criteria used to determine remuneration, pay levels and, for companies with at least 50 employees, pay progression, which will be made accessible to employees 

Employees' right to information 

Once a year, every employee has the right to request and receive in writing, within two months of the request, including through their representatives or equality bodies, information on the average pay levels, broken down by gender, of the categories of workers performing: 

• The "same work", meaning work performed in carrying out same task or tasks falling within the same illustrative classification within the same pay level and legal classification category provided for by the NCBA, or 
  

• "Work of equal value", meaning different work performed in carrying out comparable tasks, as provided for by the classification levels established by the NCBA. The assessment of work of "equal value" must take skills, responsibilities and working conditions into account, as well as any other factor relevant to the specific job or position 

Employers: 

• May fulfil the above obligation by publishing the relevant information on their intranet or in the restricted area of the company website 

• Must inform all employees annually of their right to receive the above information and of the procedures for exercising that right 

• Must not prevent employees from disclosing their own remuneration (any contractual clauses to the contrary are prohibited). Regarding the comparison of the “same work” or “work of equal value” 

• Must use the classification and grading systems provided for by the NCBA, by decentralized bargaining, by supplementary bargaining, or by law constitute the reference tool for comparison purposes (presumption of conformity) 

• Company-level professional classification and assessment systems are also permitted, integrating the provisions of the NCBA 

• Comparison of the same work or work of equal value is also permitted with reference to workers employed by different employers, where the pay conditions derive from the same legal provision or NCBA, or from company-level agreements or regulations established for multiple organizations or companies belonging to a corporate group 

Actions to take: 

• Carry out an internal assessment to identify the categories of workers performing the "same work" or "work of equal value" 

• Carry out a comparison of average pay levels, broken down by gender, of the categories of workers performing the "same work" or "work of equal value" and investigate the reasons for any gaps (in particular gaps of at least 5% that are not justified by objective and gender-neutral criteria) 

• Set up an internal procedure for handling employee information requests, identifying a communication channel, the responsible corporate function, and response times 

• Remove from individual contracts any confidentiality clauses regarding remuneration 

• Prepare an annual notice addressed to all employees regarding their right to request pay information 

Obligations for employers with at least 100 employees
 

These obligations apply from June 7, 2027, and specifically: 

• 250+ employees: first data collection by June 7, 2027 

• 150-249 employees: first data collections by June 7, 2027, then every three years 

• 100-149 employees: first data collection by June 7, 2031, then every three years 

Periodic reporting on the pay gap 

Employers with at least 100 employees must collect and report the following data to the Monitoring Authority: 

1. Gender pay gap 

2. Gender pay gap in complementary or variable components 

3. Median gender pay gap 

4. Median gender pay gap in complementary or variable components 

5. Percentage of female and male workers receiving complementary or variable components 

6. Percentage of female and male workers in each pay quartile 

7. Gender pay gap between workers by category, broken down by basic salary or wages and complementary or variable components 

The data referred to in points a), b), c), d), e), f): 

• Are made public by the Monitoring Authority 

• May be made public directly by the employer by publishing them on their own website 

The accuracy of the above data is confirmed by the employer, following consultation with employee representatives who have access to the applied methodologies. 

With regard to the data referred to in point g), the employer must: 

• Make such data accessible to employees and their representatives 

• In the event of a request, transmit such data to the Labor Inspectorate and the locally competent equality Authorities 

• Upon request by the aforesaid parties, provide data relating to the previous four years, if available 

Employees, employee representatives, the Labor Inspectorate and the Equality Authorities have the right to request clarifications and further details regarding the reported data from employers. 

In that case, employers must provide a reasoned response within 60 days of receiving the request and remedy any unjustified discrimination. 

Actions to take: 

• Carry out an internal audit on the organization’s current state in terms of pay equality, providing an objective snapshot of the existing situation within the company 

• Set up a company process that allows the above data to be easily obtained in order to produce the report within the required timeframes (the technical procedures for the collection and transmission of data to the Monitoring Authority will be laid down by ministerial decree within ninety days of the entry into force) 

Joint pay assessment 

Employers must carry out a joint assessment of pay with employee representatives (company-level unions or, in their absence, local representatives of the trade union organizations that signed the collective agreement and the parties to whom employees may lawfully confer a specific mandate) when all the following three conditions are met: 

• The pay information reveals a difference in the average pay level between female and male workers of at least 5% in any category of workers 

• Such gap is not justified on the basis of objective and gender-neutral criteria 

• The employer has not corrected such unjustified difference in average pay level within six months from the date of communication of the pay information 

Following the joint assessment, the employer must: 

• Report the outcomes to the Monitoring Authority and, upon request, to the Labor Inspectorate and the Equality Authorities 

• Adopt, within a reasonable time and in collaboration with employee representatives, the measures identified as necessary to remove unjustified pay differences 

• In the event of failure to reach an agreement at company level, proceed with an examination of the matter with the Labor Inspectorate and the locally competent Equality Authorities (if invited) 

Risk/impact

Risks and sanctions 

In the event of a breach of the obligations set out in the Decree, the sanctions provided for in the Equal Opportunities Code (Legislative Decree No. 198/2006) apply. 

In particular, the main risks for employers are: 

• Administrative pecuniary sanctions 

• Revocation of public benefits 

• In the most serious cases or in cases of recidivism, exclusion of up to two years from public procurement or further concessions 

Such remedies may be activated, by delegation, also by employee representatives, trade union organizations and associations with a legitimate interest in ensuring equality. 

A particularly significant aspect is the reversal of the burden of proof: as provided for by the Equal Opportunities Code, in the event of litigation, it is the employer who must demonstrate that no discrimination took place. 

Furthermore, protection against retaliation is provided (Article 41-bis of the Equal Opportunities Code) for workers and their representatives who have exercised the rights arising from the Decree. 

For further information or to discuss any of the issues raised, please contact the LCA Studio Legale Labor Team at lavoro@lcalex.it.