Article 7 gives workers a written route to understand their own pay level and compare average pay levels for people doing the same work or work of equal value. For employers, this is both a response duty and an annual communication duty.
The provision is more specific than a general promise of transparency: it defines the requested information, request routes, response deadline and use of the information. Article 12 supplies a controlled-access option where disclosure would reveal an identifiable worker’s pay.
The information right
Directive requirements
Information on request. Workers have the right to request and receive in writing information on their individual pay level and on average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs. Article 7(1) defines the right as the worker’s individual pay level rather than an itemised list of every compensation component. [Directive, Article 7(1)]
Direct and supported request routes. Workers may request and receive the information through worker representatives or an equality body. If information supplied is inaccurate or incomplete, workers may request reasonable additional details and clarifications and receive a substantiated reply. [Directive, Article 7(2)]
Annual notice. Employers must inform all workers annually of their right to receive the information and of the steps for exercising it. [Directive, Article 7(3)]
Written response deadline. Employers must provide the requested information within a reasonable period and in all cases within two months from the request. [Directive, Article 7(4)]
Freedom to discuss pay for equal-pay enforcement. Workers must not be prevented from disclosing their pay for the purpose of enforcing equal pay, and contractual terms restricting such disclosure must be prohibited. [Directive, Article 7(5)]
Limited use condition. Apart from information concerning their own pay or pay level, employers may require workers to use information obtained under Article 7 only to exercise their right to equal pay. [Directive, Article 7(6)]
Defining the comparison category
“Category of workers” means workers performing the same work or work of equal value, grouped in a non-arbitrary manner on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria agreed with worker representatives where they exist. [Directive, Article 3(1)(h)] Structures for assessing equal value must exclude sex discrimination and consider factors including skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. [Directive, Article 4(4)]
Operational recommendations — not express Article 7 requirements
- Publish one accessible request channel while accepting valid requests through the routes Article 7 protects.
- Timestamp receipt and set an internal deadline comfortably inside two months.
- Maintain a documented category-of-workers methodology connected to job evaluation.
- Validate source data, calculation period, population and sex breakdown.
- Route inaccurate-or-incomplete follow-up questions back to the response owner.
- Prepare the annual notice, accessibility format and delivery evidence.
- Coordinate worker-representative and equality-body requests with the same service standard.
Article 7 sets no general periodic-request limit. Article 12 provides the applicable controlled-access mechanism for identifiable pay information.
Where information would identify another worker
Personal data processed under measures implementing Article 7 must comply with the GDPR. [Directive, Article 12(1)] Where disclosure would lead, directly or indirectly, to identification of an individual worker’s pay, Member States may provide that access is limited to worker representatives, the labour inspectorate or the equality body. Only worker representatives or the equality body advise workers regarding a possible claim under the Directive, without disclosing actual pay levels of individual workers performing the same work or work of equal value. [Directive, Article 12(3)]
This controlled-access safeguard is a defined route rather than a general employer discretion to refuse a request. Article 12(3) includes worker representatives, the labour inspectorate and the equality body in the permitted access group; only worker representatives or the equality body advise workers. Information remains unrestricted for the monitoring purposes in Article 29.
Directive framework