Pay transparency in recruitment: the first stage of implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive in Poland

Marcin Wujczyk
Wardyński & Partners, Krakow
marcin.wujczyk@wardynski.com.pl

Przemysław Zając
Wardyński & Partners, Krakow
przemyslaw.zajac@wardynski.com.pl

Poland has begun implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive through recent amendments to the Polish Labour Code concerning transparency when recruiting employees. These changes constitute the first legislative step towards strengthening equal pay mechanisms and reducing information asymmetry between employers and job applicants.

The amendment introduces several new obligations for employers conducting recruitment processes. The most important of these relate to the disclosure of salary information to candidates, the requirement to use gender-neutral job titles in recruitment advertisements, and the prohibition on asking candidates about their salary history. Although the new provisions do not yet fully implement the Directive, they significantly affect recruitment practices in Poland and require employers to review their internal procedures.

Salary information for job applicants

The central element of the new regulations is the obligation to inform candidates about the proposed remuneration for the position. Employers must provide applicants with information on the proposed starting salary or the salary range. In addition, where remuneration in the organisation is governed by internal sources of employment law – such as a collective labour agreement or remuneration regulations – the relevant provisions concerning remuneration must also be made available to the applicant.

The legislation does not impose a precise moment at which the information must be provided. Instead, employers may disclose it at different stages of the recruitment process. In practice, the information should be provided: in the job advertisement; before the recruitment interview; or at the latest, before the employment relationship is established. Although all three options are permissible, providing salary information in the job advertisement will often prove the most transparent and practical solution.

The information may be communicated in paper or electronic form. In practice, employers may include the information directly in the job advertisement, send it to candidates via email, make it available through an electronic recruitment system, or provide it in the formal employment offer. While the law does not require employers to obtain formal confirmation that the candidate has received the information, documenting the communication may be advisable for evidential purposes – for example, through email correspondence or recruitment platforms which record whether documents have been opened.

The employer is not required to indicate a precise salary. Instead, remuneration may be presented in the form of a range reflecting different levels of experience or qualifications. However, the range should be realistic and meaningful. Excessively broad ranges could undermine the objective of transparency and may raise doubts about whether the employer has complied with the spirit of the regulations.

Where recruitment concerns several positions or levels – for example junior, mid-level and senior roles – the employer should indicate a separate salary or salary range for each position or level.

Scope of remuneration

Another important issue concerns the scope of remuneration that should be communicated to candidates. Article 18(3c) section 2 of the Labour Code adopts a broad definition of remuneration, covering all components of pay regardless of their name or nature, as well as other work-related benefits provided in monetary or non-monetary form.

As a result, remuneration information should not be limited to base salary alone. Depending on the structure used by the employer, the following elements may also form part of the remuneration package:

• performance bonuses (eg, annual or quarterly bonuses);
• awards and incentive payments;
• allowances such as seniority supplements;
• non-monetary benefits (for example company cars, fuel cards or vouchers);
• participation in share-based incentive programmes.

In practice, some components – particularly discretionary awards – may be difficult to quantify in advance. Nevertheless, employers should at least indicate that such components exist where they form part of the remuneration system.

If remuneration in the organisation is governed by collective agreements or remuneration regulations, the relevant provisions regulating the rules for granting and calculating remuneration must be provided to applicants. Although the legislation explicitly refers to remuneration regulations, it cannot be excluded that labour inspection authorities will expect employers to provide additional documents regulating remuneration components, such as bonus policies.

Gender-neutral job titles

The amendment also introduces a requirement that job advertisements use gender-neutral job titles. Its aim is to prevent job advertisements from suggesting that a particular position is intended for persons of a specific gender.

In practice, many job titles in the Polish language traditionally appear only in the masculine form. Employers should therefore review the wording used in recruitment advertisements and consider introducing neutral forms, for example by using both masculine and feminine forms or other linguistic solutions that avoid indicating a specific gender.

Although the legal requirement focuses primarily on job advertisements, reviewing internal documentation and templates may also be advisable in order to ensure consistency.

Ban on questions about salary history

Another important change is the introduction of a ban on requesting information about a candidate’s current or previous remuneration. Employers may no longer ask applicants about their salary history during recruitment processes.

The purpose of this rule is to prevent historical pay inequalities from influencing the remuneration offered in new employment relationships. In practice, employers should therefore review recruitment documentation and procedures, in particular: interview questionnaires and evaluation forms; recruitment guidelines used by HR personnel and managers; and templates used by external recruitment agencies.

Scope of application

The new rules apply to all employers recruiting individuals to work within an employment relationship, regardless of the size of the organisation or the sector in which it operates. Even small employers or those that recruit only occasionally must therefore comply with the new regulations.

At the same time, the provisions apply only where recruitment concerns employment relationships. They do not apply where cooperation is intended to be based exclusively on civil law contracts.

Liability for non-compliance

The amendment does not currently introduce specific financial penalties for failure to comply with the new obligations. Nevertheless, non-compliance may expose employers to liability for damages, particularly if a breach leads to discrimination or unequal treatment in recruitment.

The first stage of a broader reform

The recent amendment should be viewed as only the first stage of implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive in Poland. The Directive requires Member States to introduce a much broader framework of transparency mechanisms, including employee rights to obtain information about pay levels, obligations to report gender pay gaps for larger employers, and stronger enforcement of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

Further legislative changes are expected before June 2026, which is the deadline for full implementation of the Directive. The Polish government is already working on draft legislation that will introduce the remaining elements of the Directive into national law.

For employers, the current amendment should therefore be seen not as an isolated regulatory change but as the beginning of a broader transformation of pay transparency rules in Poland. Organisations that start reviewing their recruitment practices and remuneration policies now will be better prepared for the more extensive obligations which are likely to follow in the near future.