New draft act on the pay gap in Poland
In this article:
The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy revises the draft
On 29 April 2026, the Polish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy submitted a new draft act for public consultation on strengthening the application of the right to equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value — in short, the so-called pay gap act.
In addition, a draft regulation of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy was published on the detailed information concerning the indicators included in the report on the pay gap between female and male employees, as well as the method and template for calculating them.
The reason for the changes was reportedly the wave of criticism directed at the original draft. The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy indicates that the amendments were introduced after “analysing all comments submitted during interministerial consultations, opinion-gathering and public consultations”.
In its article on LinkedIn, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy states that the new draft is “an important step towards greater transparency and fairness in the labour market”.
What exactly is changing?
The new draft act includes the following changes:
- a new date for the act to enter into force — 6 months from the date of its announcement;
- clarification in the provisions of which elements used to assess the value of work are mandatory, i.e. skills, effort, scope of responsibility and working conditions, and which may be applied optionally, e.g. definitions of employee categories;
- introduction of a procedure to be followed if no agreement is reached between the employer and the trade union representation on the criteria for job evaluation, together with the obligation to provide information to the competent district labour inspector;
- a clear indication — in response to doubts raised by social partners — that when assessing the value of work, the employer is required to apply identical criteria, as well as any sub-criteria and additional criteria, to all positions and types of work;
- introduction of a definition of pay structure;
- clear designation of the equality body, which will be the Commission for Counteracting Discrimination in Employment, and the monitoring body, which will be the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment;
- clarification that an employee may disclose information about their remuneration regardless of the purpose of such disclosure;
- indication that the assessment of whether there is a single source of remuneration in a given case is to be made by a court or another competent authority examining the allegation of discrimination at the stage of pursuing claims;
- clarification of the method for determining the number of employees for the purpose of establishing the obligation to prepare a pay gap report, by introducing a new definition of annual work units, as well as detailed specification of the information concerning the indicators included in this report in the implementing regulation.
The draft also provides for greater protection of employees who experience unequal treatment in pay on the grounds of gender.
For breaches of the provisions of the act — including, among others, failure to assess the value of work in accordance with the act, failure to fulfil reporting obligations or failure to take corrective measures — sanctions are envisaged in the form of a fine ranging from PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000.
Legal basis:
Draft Act on strengthening the application of the right to equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value
Source: The article was created in collaboration with our cooperation partner – sdzlegal Schindhelm Law OfficeIf you have any questions regarding this topic or if you are in need for any additional information – please do not hesitate to contact us:
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