Will an employee be able to ask the employer about a colleague's salary?
The Directive does not grant the right to find out the salary of a particular co-worker. Instead, the employee will be able to find out how his or her remuneration compares to the average earnings of other employees doing comparable work.
- According to the Directive, employees are to have the right to receive written information on their individual level of remuneration and the average levels of remuneration among male and female employees doing the same job or a job of equal value. For example, a cashier will not receive information on average salary levels among managers in sales department.
- The employer will have to respond no later than 2 months from the date of the request submitted by the employee or the employee's representative. Each year, the employer will also have to remind employees of their right to make the request in question.
- It may be the case that the provision of data to an employee on average salary levels in his or her category leads to the direct or indirect disclosure of the salary of a specific employee. This may happen, for example, when there is only one other person employed in a category - apart from the requesting employee. In such a situation, the Polish legislation will be able to instruct that the employer will provide the requested information not to the employee, but to the labour inspectorate, equality body or employee representatives. Therefore, the Polish law transposing the Directive will specify exactly how data on earnings of specific employees will be protected.