The Equal Pay Directive – the directive and Norwegian legislation
Through the Equal Pay Directive, the EU has introduced new rules and enforcement tools to counteract pay differences between the sexes. Norwegian employers are already bound by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act, which among other things requires them to work actively with and report on pay and working conditions. Even so, the directive will entail more extensive requirements for both procedures and reporting once it is implemented in Norwegian law.
The Government has stated that transparency about pay gives employees the opportunity to detect and prove possible differential treatment based on gender. Mapping pay may also reveal imbalances in pay systems and job classification. This in turn may increase awareness and stimulate debate about the causes of structural pay differences between women and men. The Government therefore believes that pay transparency may improve companies’ equality policies and promote closer cooperation between employer and employee representatives.
It is essential to emphasise that the directive does not prohibit different pay where the differences are based on legitimate, gender-neutral and objective assessments. Pay differences may, for example, be justified by experience, competence, responsibility or other relevant criteria. However, the directive tightens the requirements that pay determination must be based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, and that the employer must be able to account for the basis of pay differences.
Under the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act, the reporting obligation currently applies to enterprises with more than 50 employees, and certain obligations also apply to enterprises with between 20 and 50 employees. The Equal Pay Directive has a different, tiered system. Under the directive, enterprises with 250 or more employees must report annually from 7 June 2027, while enterprises with 150–249 employees must report every three years from the same date. Enterprises with 100–149 employees will be subject to the reporting obligation from 7 June 2031, also every three years. The directive does not impose a corresponding reporting obligation on enterprises with fewer than 100 employees, but Member States are free to introduce stricter rules.
EU Member States had until 7 June 2026 to implement the directive into national law. This deadline does not apply to Norway. The directive has not yet been incorporated into the EEA Agreement, so no Norwegian implementation deadline has been set. The Government has assessed the directive as EEA-relevant and has begun work on how it can be implemented in Norwegian law. As of September 2026, however, no Norwegian consultation paper or bill has been presented. The Government has also stated that it has reason to believe the directive will be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.
It therefore remains uncertain exactly how the Norwegian rules will be formulated. Norwegian enterprises should nevertheless follow developments and begin preparing for the new requirements.
Changes in the employer’s responsibilities – what will be new?
The Equal Pay Directive brings with it several new and stricter requirements compared with the current Norwegian regulatory framework:
- Simplified assessment of work: The directive provides for a simpler process to determine what is considered equal work. In its assessment, the employer must rely on objective factors such as competence, responsibility, seniority, education, quantitative effort and working environment. The concept of pay is expanded to include all forms of remuneration, including bonuses, overtime and pension. As a general rule, equal work shall have equal pay, but it may still be relevant to differentiate between employees who differ in the objective factors.
- Different qualifications may be paid differently: The equal pay requirement means that pay must be based on gender-neutral criteria such as experience and qualifications. Pay differences that follow from such differences in qualifications are therefore permitted. It is lawful to give higher pay to someone with longer experience than to someone with shorter experience. It is only unlawful if the pay difference is due to discriminatory reasons such as gender, ethnicity or religion.
- More insight and transparency: All employees will have the right to see both their own pay and the average pay broken down by gender within the same job category, regardless of any suspicion of discrimination. This information must therefore be accessible to all employees. Employers must also make the criteria for pay determination and pay progression easily available, and no attempts shall be made to prevent employees from sharing information about their own pay.
- Better routines: Enterprises must be able to document which criteria are used for pay determination and pay progression, and how positions are assessed and classified. It will therefore become more important to have a systematic and gender-neutral pay system, and to be able to explain and document the basis for pay differences between employees who perform the same work or work of equal value. In 2026, the European Commission also published guidance on gender-neutral job evaluation and job classification.
- Transparency in recruitment: The directive requires that job applicants receive information about the starting salary or salary range in a way that enables informed and transparent pay negotiations, for example in the job advertisement or before the interview. Employers must not ask for or seek to obtain information about the candidate’s current or previous pay. Job advertisements and job titles must also be gender-neutral.
- Stricter reporting requirements: The directive introduces a tiered reporting obligation for enterprises with at least 100 employees. The reporting must include, among other things, information on pay differences between women and men and differences in variable pay components. The reporting must make it possible to identify any pay differences that cannot be explained by objective and gender-neutral factors. Norway may choose to introduce stricter reporting requirements than the directive’s minimum requirements.
- Joint pay assessment in the event of unexplained differences: If the reporting shows a pay difference of at least 5 per cent between women and men in a category of workers, and the difference cannot be justified by objective and gender-neutral criteria or has not been remedied within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment in cooperation with the employee representatives. Among other things, the assessment must identify and explain the differences and set out measures to remedy any differences that cannot be objectively justified.
- Strengthened enforcement and right to compensation: The directive strengthens employees’ ability to enforce the principle of equal pay. In the event of a breach of the rules, employees may be entitled to full compensation for losses resulting from the discrimination, including back pay and other relevant benefits, as well as interest. The directive also contains rules on the burden of proof and access to evidence intended to make it easier to enforce the right to equal pay.
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Measures enterprises should start implementing already now
Even though it is still unclear how the Norwegian rules will be formulated, enterprises should already begin preparing for the Equal Pay Directive. It is particularly advisable to review existing routines for pay determination and pay progression, and to assess whether the enterprise has clear and gender-neutral criteria for setting pay.
Enterprises should also consider how positions are categorised, and whether there are groups of employees who perform the same work or work of equal value. It should be possible to explain and document why employees with comparable duties receive different pay. Recruitment processes must also be adapted. Pay information must be provided to job applicants at a stage that allows for informed pay negotiations, and employers must not obtain information about the candidate’s current or previous pay. HR, managers and others involved in recruitment should therefore receive training in the new requirements.
Enterprises should also prepare to update the staff handbook and other relevant routines, so that employees receive information about their rights relating to pay and pay transparency. Routines should be established for how requests for pay information are to be handled, and for how the enterprise will document the criteria for pay determination and pay progression.
The reporting obligation under the directive will first apply to the largest enterprises from June 2027, and to enterprises with 100–149 employees only from 2031. This does not mean, however, that enterprises should postpone their preparations. Establishing sound systems for job classification, pay mapping and documentation of pay differences can take time. For enterprises already subject to the duty to act and report under the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act, much of this work can build on existing routines.
It is also important to be aware that the directive has not yet been implemented in Norwegian law. The specific Norwegian requirements may therefore differ from the directive’s minimum rules. Enterprises should follow the further EEA and legislative process and adapt their routines once it becomes clear how the directive will be implemented in Norway.
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