‘Worker Representative’ definition must reflect the Voluntarist Tradition in Irelands transposition of EU Pay Transparency Directive – 28.01.26

As we know the key deadline for transposition of the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970/EU) is June 7, 2026, by which time EU Member States must have transposed the directive into national law. The most immediate changes will be at the point of recruitment and for current employees to include the requirements on employers to provide information on salary ranges to job applicants and to preclude asking candidates about salary history. Employees will then also have the right to request information about their own pay and average pay levels profiled by gender.

Workers will gain stronger rights to information about their own pay and average pay levels broken down by gender. That will feed into more informed candidate expectations and more pointed questions in salary negotiations. Larger employers will have a heavier reporting regime. Gender pay gap reporting will become mandatory on a phased basis for employers above defined headcount thresholds, with joint pay assessments being conducted, requiring cooperation with worker representatives where unjustified gender pay gaps of 5% or more persist in any category of worker.

Ireland has taken an initial step with the publication of the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2024 but the substantive Pay Transparency Bill is keenly awaited.

What constitutes ‘worker representatives’

The matter of what constitutes ‘worker representatives’ is likely to be a focus of interest by all sides of industry. In an Irish context this will be a sensitive topic, as employee engagement models more typically reflect voluntary arrangements and a wide diversity of enterprise level practices including most employers who practice direct engagement models in addition to those with legacy collective bargaining arrangements.

The PTD defines “workers’ representatives” in Article 1 as “the workers’ representatives in accordance with national law and/or practice”. There is no maximum or minimum number of representatives stipulated. However, to protect workers and to address any risk or fears of victimisation in the application of the principle of equal pay, the Directive allows that workers should be able to be represented by a worker representative.

Worker representatives under the Directive will have obligations on matters such as the right to pay information, gender pay gap reporting and joint pay assessments (where these are triggered), as well as protection against victimization and access to training.

Member States in framing national legislation have the possibility to consider their national circumstances and different roles concerning workers’ representation. In terms of approaches taken by other member states, we are seeing variations in how, and whether, the role of worker representatives is reflected in transparency legislation.

For example, in Poland it is expected that under the enabling legislation that "workers' representatives" may refer to representatives at company level, such as any established company-level trade union organisation, employee representatives elected for a specific issue (which can be ad hoc) and any company's works council (if relevant). Where an employer does not have ‘workers representatives’, then for the purposes of the Directive, Polish employers may have to initiate a process to do so, even as a form of ad hoc employee representation for the purposes of the Directive.

In a related development, in October 2025, the German Government appointed Independent Commission of Experts published its final report on ‘Minimum Bureaucracy Implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive’ with recommendations to support compliance with its terms. On the issue of employee representation, the Commission concluded that for companies without employee representatives, such companies should not be required to create new representative bodies where they don’t yet exist, solely for compliance purposes. In such cases, the “joint” pay assessment should be omitted or waived in these cases. At most, an existing company-level or group works council should be involved. Nevertheless, employers must inform and consult employees during remedial procedures. However, the Commission also discussed the involvement of existing works councils and trade unions in the process, recommending clear definitions and practical guidance for their roles. Interestingly, the Commission also opined that generally workers’ representatives do not have to be involved on an equal footing in the preparation of pay transparency reports. In this respect, workers’ representatives should only be granted the right to be “consulted on the accuracy of the information”.

So, unless member states provide otherwise in their implementing legislation, existing workers’ representatives (e.g. existing works councils or information and consultation fora) could take on the additional responsibilities under the Directive. In that event, it will be necessary to redefine the role and function of those existing internal structures to reflect this added responsibility.

The Directive also requires member states to provide training and technical assistance to workers’ representatives. It is advisable that employers commit to adequate training of any workers’ representatives concerning their role under the Directive to ensure effective and constructive engagement on any pay equity, equal pay issues or objective justification issues as well as helping them to understand any relevant statistical analysis.

There are employment relations and compliance risks.

It is still unclear how ‘worker representatives’ will be defined in the Irish legislation. The focus on pay transparency and with pay information to be more readily available to workers and worker representatives, for some employers, this could lead to an escalation of pay queries and heighten employment relations and compliance risks.

However, a positive feature of the recently published Government Action Plan on the Promotion of Collective Bargaining 2026-2030 is the continued recognition of the importance of the voluntarist traditions of collective bargaining in Ireland, with the support of the social partners.

The position of those firms with agreed arrangements for voluntary collective bargaining will most likely have well established structures through which to engage to deliver on any obligations under the Directive.  However, in accordance with our national laws and/or practice, the position of most employers who apply market leading remuneration and employee engagement practices, including those who do so by means other than through voluntary collective bargaining, requires careful consideration. This needs to be balanced and proportionate to reflect Irelands workplace traditions and range of engagement models in the framing of the pay transparency legislation which does not add to the already substantial regulatory burden those employers face.

If you would like to talk about any of the above issues, please get in touch with any of our Partners.

Brendan McGinty | Managing Partner

Stratis Consulting

Strategic Employment Relations

E: brendan.mcginty@stratis.ie 

M: +353 (0) 87 2433038       or T: +353 (0) 1 2936748

W: www.stratis.ie Twitter: @Stratisconsult LinkedIn: Follow us here

Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal or specific case advice.  The answers to specific situations will vary depending on the circumstances of each case. This is not a substitute for specific professional advice relevant to individual circumstances facing your business.