ARTICLE
6 October 2025

Pay Attention Episode 15: Data Privacy And Pay Transparency - An Unreasonable Conflict? (Podcast)

LS
Lewis Silkin

Contributor

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The EU's Pay Transparency Directive is about shining a light on salaries; the GDPR is about keeping personal data under wraps.
United Kingdom Employment and HR

The EU's Pay Transparency Directive is about shining a light on salaries; the GDPR is about keeping personal data under wraps. Put the two together and you've got a legal paradox: employers are asked to build a glass house, but only if the blinds are firmly drawn.

In this episode, Tom Heys and David Lorimer are joined by Lewis Silkin partners Bryony Long and Ben Favaro to unpack the real tension between transparency and privacy. From pay reporting obligations that bump into data minimisation, to the risk of identifying individuals in "anonymous" averages, we explore how these two regimes collide, and what employers can do to stay on the right side of both.

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.

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