The Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019 (the "Bill") has now completed Dáil Éireann, First Stage and was published online in March 2019.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2019/30/

The stated aim of the Bill is to provide transparency on the gender pay gap and it is likely that businesses that can report a low or non-existent pay gap will be at an advantage in recruiting future employees. Mandatory reporting is likely to encourage employers to take measures to address this issue before the reporting requirements before the Bill are in force.

The Bill provides for the Minister for Justice and Equality (the "Minister") to make regulations requiring employers to publish information relating to the remuneration of their employees to show whether there are differences in such remuneration referable to gender and, if so, the size of such differences.

These obligations will apply to employers with more than 250 employees from the outset and will apply to employers with more than 50 employees two years after the commencement of the legislation.

The Bill is prescriptive about the level of detail that will be required and how this should be presented in a manner that protects the privacy of individual employees. The information should be categorised to show the differences between the mean and the median hourly remuneration of male and female employees, the mean and median bonus remuneration of male and female employees, similar information in respect of part-time, causal and lower-paid employees. It should also show the percentage of male employees who were paid bonus remuneration and benefits in kind against the percentage of female employees who received these benefits.

In drafting the regulations, the Bill provides that the Minister shall have regard to the principle that employees and the public need to have access to gender pay gap differences and, if there are differences, the reasons for such differences and the measures being taken, or proposed to be taken, to eliminate or reduce such difficulties. The Minister shall also have regard to the estimated costs of complying with, and enforcing, such regulations. It will be interesting to see how this issue will affect the extent of reporting in practice.

The WRC will have investigative powers under this legislation and the authority to direct a specific course of action, which could involve the employer bridging any such gender pay gap. The Bill also gives the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission powers to make applications to the Circuit Court for orders requiring employers to comply with the legislation.

Walkers can provide legally privileged advice to assist you in understanding whether the legislation will apply within your current organisational structure, your reporting obligations, identifying challenges, drafting diversity and inclusion policies and finding practical solutions to protect your organisation's reputation.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.