Entgelttransparenzgesetz und Pay Gap
The tightening of regulations through the Pay Transparency Directive, which is currently being implemented by the German legislature, has expanded the previous obligations of the Pay Transparency Act, standardised additional reporting requirements and, overall, ‘sharpened’ the regulatory framework.
This means that human resources departments are now faced with a wide range of audit obligations relating to company pay systems in order to be able to document their non-discriminatory nature. As before, a particular challenge is that collective bargaining systems only facilitate pay transparency if they are applied as stipulated in the collective agreement. However, this is not always the case in practice, for example when the actual remuneration differs upwards from the collectively agreed remuneration.
The webinar aims to provide assistance in this area and offer a platform for the exchange of best practices.
Subject to further clarification from the German legislature, which we will take into account once it has been finalised, the webinar will focus on the following topics:
Requirements for remuneration systems (Art. 4 Directive (EU) 2023/970, e.g.: use of objective, gender-neutral criteria (skills, workload, responsibility, working conditions), employees' rights to information (Art. 7, including provision of individual pay levels and average pay levels by gender and comparison groups within a short period of time, informing employees about their right to information, prohibition of contractual clauses that prevent pay transparency), Employers' obligations to act (before employment, Art. 5, e.g.: proactive disclosure of starting pay or a pay range in job advertisements or before contract negotiations, ensuring gender-neutral job advertisements and non-discriminatory recruitment procedures, during the employment relationship, Art. 6, e.g.: easily accessible disclosure of objective, gender-neutral criteria for pay setting and development, for employees, obligation to provide proactive information, not only on request) and reporting obligations (Art. 9).
In addition, we will address preliminary questions and consequences of the planned joint remuneration assessment with employee representatives (Art. 10), which is mandatory if a remuneration difference of ≥ 5% is identified that cannot be justified and is not corrected within six months.
Finally, we will also highlight the obligations of works councils (and staff councils, where applicable) to take action (e.g. supporting employees in exercising their rights to information in accordance with Art. 7(2), assisting in confirming the accuracy of remuneration reports in accordance with Art. 9(6), participation in joint remuneration assessment within the meaning of Art. 10(1), including analysis, identification of causes, agreement on measures.
The event format as an online workshop facilitates active exchange among participants, with sufficient time available for each topic to discuss questions and issues.
The webinar is aimed at all practitioners of corporate human resources.
The speakers are:
Dr. Jens T. Thau
Lawyer, specialist in labor law, licensed in Germany and New York.
Deputy Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer of the Employers' Association of the Private Banking Industry (AGV Banken). Since 1994, his practice has focused on collective labor law (collective bargaining and works constitution law, collective bargaining, conciliation committees) as well as employment and liability law for management boards and supervisory boards.
Ulf Grimmke
Attorney at law and, since July 2022, managing director of the Employers' Association of the Private Banking Industry (AGV Banken). He is a deputy member of the Executive Board of the German Federal Pension Insurance Fund (DRV Bund) and the Federal Assembly of German Pension Insurance. At DRV Bund, he is a full member of the Executive Board's Personnel Committee and represents DRV Bund at the shareholders' meeting of BfW Halle gGmbH.
Please note, the language of the webinar is German.