Pay transparency in Belgium: what employers must do
The European pay transparency directive had to be part of Belgian law by 7 June 2026. On 12 November 2026 that has not happened yet. Below you find what the directive itself requires, what Belgian law already asks today and how to get your hiring ready now.
The obligations per topic
Provisions of the directive only apply in Belgium after the transposing law. Provisions of Belgian law (gender act) already apply.
| Topic | What | Who | From when | Provision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay or pay range before the interview | An applicant is entitled to the starting pay or pay range of the role, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, and to the relevant provisions of the collective agreement applied. The information comes before the job interview or otherwise in time, for example in the published vacancy. | All employers, private and public, whatever their size. | Directive: transposition by 7 June 2026 at the latest. In Belgium only once the transposing law applies; on 12 November 2026 there is none yet. | Directive, art. 5(1) and art. 2 |
| No questions about pay history | You may not ask an applicant what they earned in their current or previous jobs. Vacancies and job titles are gender-neutral and recruitment runs without discrimination. | All employers, whatever their size. | Directive: transposition by 7 June 2026 at the latest. In Belgium only once the transposing law applies; on 12 November 2026 there is none yet. | Directive, art. 5(2) and (3) |
| Criteria for pay and pay progression | Workers have easy access to the objective, gender-neutral criteria you use to set their pay, pay levels and pay progression. | All employers. A member state may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the part on pay progression; whether Belgium will is not yet known. | Directive: transposition by 7 June 2026 at the latest. In Belgium only once the transposing law applies; on 12 November 2026 there is none yet. | Directive, art. 6 |
| Right to information on pay levels | A worker can request in writing their own pay level and the average pay levels, by sex, of those doing the same work or work of equal value. You answer within two months and remind all workers of this right every year. A contract clause that forbids workers to disclose their pay is not allowed. | All employers, whatever their size. | Directive: transposition by 7 June 2026 at the latest. In Belgium only once the transposing law applies; on 12 November 2026 there is none yet. | Directive, art. 7 |
| Reporting on the pay gap | You report, among other things, the mean and median pay gap, also in variable components, the share of women and men in each quartile and the pay gap per category of workers, each time on the previous calendar year. | 250 workers or more: every year. 150 to 249: every three years. 100 to 149: every three years. Below 100 the directive imposes nothing, but a member state may. | First report by 7 June 2027 from 150 workers, by 7 June 2031 for 100 to 149. | Directive, art. 9 |
| Joint pay assessment | If the report shows a difference of at least 5 percent in a category of workers that you do not justify with objective, gender-neutral criteria and do not remedy within six months, you carry out a joint pay assessment with measures together with the workers' representatives. | Employers that must report, so from 100 workers. | After a report that shows such a difference, so at the earliest after the first reporting round. | Directive, art. 10 |
| Shift of the burden of proof | If a worker presents facts suggesting pay discrimination, you prove there was none. If you did not meet the transparency duties, the burden is also on you, unless the breach was clearly unintentional and minor. In Belgian law the first rule already exists through the gender act. | All employers. | Gender act: already today. The part on transparency duties: after transposition. | Directive, art. 18; gender act of 10 May 2007, art. 33(1) |
| Penalties and compensation | The member state sets effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, including fines and specific penalties for repeat breaches. A harmed worker receives full compensation, with back pay and interest, without a cap fixed in advance. Today the gender act already provides a lump sum of six months' gross pay for discrimination in the employment relationship. | All employers. | Amounts and fines follow from the Belgian transposing law, which does not exist yet. The gender act lump sum applies today. | Directive, art. 16 and 23; gender act, art. 23(2), 2° |
Sources for this data: see the list at the bottom.
What the directive covers
Directive (EU) 2023/970 of 10 May 2023 sets minimum rules to enforce equal pay for women and men for equal work or work of equal value, through pay transparency and stronger enforcement. It covers employers in the private and public sector, all workers and, for the rules on recruitment, applicants too.
Pay is broad in the directive: the basic wage plus all benefits in cash or in kind, including variable components. Whether work is of equal value is assessed with objective, gender-neutral criteria: skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions, and where relevant other factors specific to the job.
Member states had to transpose the rules by 7 June 2026. They may entrust part of the implementation to the social partners and may go further than the directive, but may never lower today's level of protection.
Where does Belgium stand on 12 November 2026?
There is no Belgian law transposing the directive for the private sector. We found no bill tabled in the federal parliament, and the National Labour Council has published no new collective agreement on pay transparency. The Institute for the Equality of Women and Men wrote on 1 October 2026 that transposition in Belgium is still not in order.
The same day the Minister of Work told the federal parliament that the administration has written a first preliminary draft law that the cabinets concerned are now examining, and that the social partners are adapting collective agreements no. 25 and no. 38. According to the minister, the European Commission does not intend to include the directive in a general stop-the-clock measure. He gave no date for the law.
What the Belgian law will impose is therefore not yet settled: whether small employers will be exempt from the part on pay progression, whether reporting will also apply below 100 workers, which fines will follow and which body will receive the reports. This page therefore describes what the directive itself asks and what Belgian law already asks today, and says each time which of the two it is.
What Belgium already had
The pay gap act of 22 April 2012 tackles the pay difference between women and men at three levels. At the interprofessional level the pay gap is on the negotiating agenda. In the sectors, the federal employment service checks the job classifications of the joint committees for gender neutrality; after a negative opinion a committee has 24 months to adjust.
In the company, from 50 workers you analyse the pay structure every two years: the full form from 100 workers, the short form from 50 to 99. The analysis goes to the works council, which decides together with you whether an action plan follows. You can also appoint a mediator, but that is optional.
The social balance sheet already splits several figures by sex, including the average number of full-time and part-time workers, personnel costs and extra-legal benefits.
Collective agreement no. 25 of the National Labour Council has required equal pay for equal work or work of equal value since 1975. Job evaluation systems must ensure equal treatment in the choice and weighting of criteria and in the conversion of job points into pay. A worker or their union can go to court, and whoever files a complaint is protected against dismissal for that reason.
The gender act of 10 May 2007 bans discrimination between women and men, including in job offers and in setting pay. If a worker presents facts suggesting discrimination, the employer must prove there was none. In the employment relationship the victim can claim a lump sum of six months' gross pay, three months if the employer shows it would have decided the same for other reasons.
What is still missing today are the two rules applicants notice most: the duty to share the pay or pay range before the interview and the ban on asking about previous pay. Collective agreement no. 38 on recruitment and selection says nothing about pay. Those rules only arrive with the transposition of article 5 of the directive.
What it means when you hire technical profiles
Put the pay range in the vacancy. The directive explicitly names the published vacancy as a way to share the starting pay before the interview, and a range based on objective criteria is one you can also justify later. Add the collective agreement provisions that apply to the role, such as shift premiums.
Start from the job classification and the pay scale of your joint committee. Those classifications are checked for gender neutrality and give an objective floor. What you pay above it, you link to criteria you write down: skills and certificates, responsibility, working conditions such as shift work. That also gives you the basis for the categories in a later report.
Remove the question about current or previous pay from your application forms, your interview guide and your briefing to recruitment agencies. The directive bans that question; it says nothing about asking for salary expectations.
AltusConnect states a gross pay range in every vacancy on this site. On this site you also find the pay scales per joint committee, example job ads with a pay range per technical role, the salary guide and the pay barometer, so you can back up a range.
Tools on this site to back up a pay range
Frequently asked questions
May an employer ask about my current pay?
The directive forbids it: an employer may not ask what you earned in your current or previous jobs. In Belgium that ban only applies once the transposing law exists, and on 12 November 2026 it does not yet. Collective agreement no. 38 on recruitment and selection currently contains no rule on that question.
Must the pay be in the vacancy?
Not necessarily. The directive asks you to share the starting pay or pay range before the job interview, or otherwise early enough for an informed negotiation. The vacancy is the example the directive itself gives, but another way before the interview is also possible.
From when does pay transparency apply in Belgium?
Only from the Belgian transposing law. The directive gave member states until 7 June 2026, but on 12 November 2026 Belgium only has a first preliminary draft under review by the cabinets, without a date. For reporting the first deadline is set in the directive itself: 7 June 2027 for employers with 150 workers or more.
Does pay transparency also apply to SMEs?
Yes, for a large part. Under the directive, the pay range before the interview, the ban on asking about previous pay and the right to information apply to all employers. Pay gap reporting only starts at 100 workers. Employers with fewer than 250 workers are to receive technical support and training from the member state.
As a worker, may I share my pay with colleagues?
The directive says nobody may prevent you from disclosing your pay to enforce equal pay, and that member states must rule out contract clauses that forbid it. If an information request gives you data on other people's pay, your employer may require you to use it only for that purpose.
What should I do as an employer right now?
What Belgian law already asks now: equal pay for work of equal value, gender-neutral job evaluation and, from 50 workers, the two-yearly analysis of the pay structure. On top of that you can prepare for the directive with an inventory of roles and pay, objective criteria and a pay range in your vacancies. The checklist on this site lists those steps.
Which penalties do you risk for pay discrimination?
Already today, the lump sum from the gender act: six months' gross pay, or three months if you show you would have decided the same for other reasons. The directive adds fines, heavier penalties for repeat breaches and full compensation of the damage without a cap. How high the Belgian fines will be is not yet known.
Sources
All sources checked on 12 November 2026.
- Richtlijn (EU) 2023/970 van 10 mei 2023 ter versterking van de toepassing van het beginsel van gelijke beloning van mannen en vrouwen door beloningstransparantie (EUR-Lex)
- De Kamer, plenaire vergadering van 1 oktober 2026, vragen 56001970P en 56001995P over loontransparantie en antwoord van de minister van Werk
- Instituut voor de gelijkheid van vrouwen en mannen, persbericht Wachten op loontransparantie met een loonkloof van 6,6% (1 oktober 2026)
- Instituut voor de gelijkheid van vrouwen en mannen, loonkloof: wetgeving (wet van 22 april 2012)
- FOD Werkgelegenheid, gelijkheid vrouwen en mannen: de loonkloof (wet van 22 april 2012 en uitvoeringsbesluiten)
- FOD Werkgelegenheid, beloningstransparantie: project BE-MAGIC over genderneutrale functieclassificaties
- Nationale Arbeidsraad, cao nr. 25 van 15 oktober 1975 betreffende de gelijke beloning voor mannelijke en vrouwelijke werknemers, gewijzigd door cao nr. 25bis en 25ter (PDF)
- Nationale Arbeidsraad, cao nr. 38 van 6 december 1983 betreffende de werving en selectie van werknemers, gecoördineerde tekst (PDF)
- Wet van 10 mei 2007 ter bestrijding van discriminatie tussen vrouwen en mannen, art. 6, 23 en 33 (Justel)
- AltusConnect, openstaande vacatures met brutoloonvork per vacature
Spotted an error or an outdated source? Report it to the editorial team
Factual information from the public sources listed, on the date stated. AltusConnect is not affiliated with the companies named; brand names belong to their owners. Spotted an error or an outdated figure? Mail hello@altusconnect.be and we will correct it.
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