Compliance & Risk
SØRENSEN LAWYERS helps employers build defensible job evaluation frameworks, update hiring practices for pay transparency compliance, and prepare for gender pay gap reporting.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive Is Coming to the Netherlands
The EU Pay Transparency Directive was due to take effect across the Union on June 7, 2026. The Dutch implementation is running later than that: the amended legislative proposal is currently before the House of Representatives, with an intended entry into force of January 1, 2027. The European Commission has made clear it disagrees with that delay and expects compliance by the original deadline, raising the possibility of infringement proceedings against the Netherlands. For employers, that disagreement is not a reason to wait. It is a reason to treat the postponement as a grace period, not a reprieve.
What the Directive Actually Requires
At its core, the Directive obliges employers to put in place systems and practices that make equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value, verifiable rather than assumed.
- A job evaluation and classification system that allows work of equal value to be compared and paid consistently, regardless of gender.
- Pre-employment transparency: employers must share salary range information with candidates before salary negotiations begin, and may no longer ask candidates about their current or past salary.
- In-employment transparency: employees gain the right to request information on average pay levels, broken down by gender, for employees doing the same work or work of equal value.
- Reporting obligations for larger employers: organizations with 100 or more employees must report on their gender pay gap, and where an unjustified gap of more than 5% is identified, carry out a joint pay assessment with employee representatives.
Where the Dutch Legislation Stands Right Now
The Dutch government submitted an amended implementation proposal to the Council of State for advisory review on January 19, 2026, and forwarded the proposal to the House of Representatives on May 20, 2026. The current target for entry into force is January 1, 2027, later than the EU-wide deadline of June 7, 2026. The European Commission has stated it expects the Netherlands to comply by the original deadline regardless, and has flagged the possibility of infringement proceedings over the delay. Employers should not read the later Dutch date as removing pressure to act. The substantive obligations are set at EU level and unlikely to soften in the Dutch version, and organizations operating across multiple EU member states may already face earlier compliance dates elsewhere.
Practical Steps to Take Now
- Review your current job evaluation methodology, or build one if none exists. This is the foundation the rest of the Directive’s obligations rest on, and it takes longer to build properly than most organizations expect.
- Remove salary history questions from every stage of your hiring process, including informal ones asked by hiring managers outside the standard application form.
- Start including salary range information in job postings, or at minimum, prepare to share it before the first substantive salary conversation with a candidate.
- If your organization has 100 or more employees in the Netherlands, begin preparing the data infrastructure needed for gender pay gap reporting well before the reporting obligation itself takes effect.
- Assign clear internal ownership of pay transparency compliance. HR, legal, and finance all hold a piece of this, and gaps most often appear at the handoffs between them.
EU deadline vs. Dutch implementation
| Milestone | EU requirement | Dutch timeline |
| Transposition deadline | June 7, 2026 | Targeted for January 1, 2027 |
| Salary history questions | Prohibited | Prohibited once in force |
| Pay range disclosure | Required before negotiation | Required once in force |
| Pay gap reporting threshold | 100 or more employees | 100 or more employees |
Quick answers
Does the later Dutch date mean we can wait until 2027?
Not safely. The EU Commission disputes the delay, and the underlying obligations come from EU law, not the Dutch implementation date alone.
Does this only affect large employers?
The pay gap reporting obligation is aimed at organizations with 100 or more employees, but the hiring-related transparency obligations are not limited by company size.
Can we still ask about salary expectations?
Yes. The restriction targets asking about a candidate’s current or past salary, not their expectations for the new role.
When to involve legal counsel
Before finalizing your job evaluation methodology: build it on criteria that will hold up under the reporting obligation, not only under internal HR practice.
Before updating hiring templates and interview scripts: remove every route through which a hiring manager could still ask about salary history informally.
Before your first gender pay gap report is due: confirm whether your organization’s Dutch headcount already crosses the 100-employee threshold.
SØRENSEN LAWYERS helps employers build defensible job evaluation frameworks, update hiring practices for pay transparency compliance, and prepare for gender pay gap reporting.