EU salary-transparency rules push Spain to end pay secrecy

The European Union has issued a salary-transparency directive that member states, including Spain, were supposed to transpose into national law by early June, a deadline the country missed. Under the new rules, employers must display salary bands in vacancy notices and may no longer ask candidates about their former wages, aiming to curb pay discrimination. Employees will be able to request written information on average salaries for comparable roles, disaggregated by sex, and firms with more than 250 employees must submit yearly reports on gender pay gaps, while those with 100-249 staff report every three years.

Any unexplained gap exceeding 5% must be defended with neutral, objective criteria, and sanctions will be tougher than before, including back-pay and compensation for moral damage. Analysts argue that greater transparency could attract and retain talent, especially among Generation Z, but warn that small and medium-size enterprises may struggle with the reporting burden. The directive is expected to accelerate the decline of the long-standing taboo of discussing wages in Spain.