France's new Gender pay Law - what's changed?

As a continuation of Macron's government's flagship labor reforms started in 2017, a new decree laid down the specifics around the obligation for companies with at least 50 employees to publish annual indicators relating to potential pay gaps between women and men.

5 comparison criteria

All companies with more than 50 employees are to publish their performance on-line under 5 criteria in terms of a company's gender equality:

1. Remuneration gap: 40 points

2. Salary increases: 20 points (companies > 250 employees) or 35 points (if < 250 employees)

3. Opportunities for promotions: 15 points (only for companies > 250 employees)

4. Return from maternity leave: 15 points

5. Presence of women in the 10 highest paid: 10 points

The government assigned these criteria certain values of weight, in terms of points (out of 100). Any company performing at less than 75 could be sanctioned by a fine up to 1% of the company’s overall payroll.

Timeline

Publication of results according to the index must be made annually, starting March 1st 2019 (for companies with more than 1,000 employees in France), September 1st 2019 (for companies with more than 250 employees in France) or March 1st 2020 (for all companies over 50 employees in France).

The Gender Equality minister also announced that the number of audits carried out by labour inspectors in relation to gender equality will be multiplied fourfold as of 2019, rising from 1,700 to 7,000 audits carried out each year.

Bird & Bird would be happy to help your business adjust to these new requirements.