Pay Gap Law of 22 April 2012

The Pay Gap Law of 22 April 2012 seeks to reduce the wage gap between men and women through various measures. For example, the social balance sheet has to be submitted by certain enterprises in their financial statements and must be broken down according to the gender of the employees. Functional classifications of employees must be gender-neutral. In addition, every enterprise employing at least 50 people has to prepare an analysis every two years in order to determine whether or not the enterprise applies a gender neutral remuneration policy. Such enterprises can also, at the request of the works council or of the Committee on Prevention and Protection at Work, appoint a mediator to generate an action plan for gender neutrality or to intercede with employees who feel victimized because of unfair treatment. A Royal Decree of 25 April 2014 determines the role and the required qualifications of this mediator as well as the deontological rules he/she needs to respect, and describes the mediation procedure.