Will salary level stop being a „taboo subject”? – draft amendment to the Labour Code
In the beginning of December, a parliamentary draft act amending the Labour Code was submitted to the Speaker of the Sejm. The draft assumes the introduction of regulations ensuring the transparency of salaries not only during the employment relationship, but also at the recruitment stage. The drafters postulate that the solutions concerning the transparency of salaries should cover not only employees with employment contracts, but also those working under civil law contracts.
Salary amount obligatory in every job advertisement
The new regulations stipulate that employers will be required to include information about the proposed salary in each offer of employment – by stating the gross salary amount or indicating the minimum and maximum amount. An offer of employment where the salary is specified in a range will have to include a mention of the possibility of negotiation. Currently, the indication of the proposed salary is optional. The arbitrariness of organisations’ policies in this area lead to a lack of salary information in most offers. This particularly affects the groups of employees most vulnerable to unequal and discriminatory treatment: young employees and women. Young employees have difficulties in assessing whether the amount offered is appropriate for the salaries offered on the market, due to their lack of experience. Women, on the other hand, who continue to earn less than men for the same positions, cannot verify whether the salary offer made to them at the final recruitment stage is understated on the basis of their gender. Making it obligatory for employers to specify the salary amount in the offer will improve the situation for both groups – employees entering the labour market will gain a reliable source of information on salaries offered for a particular position and women will be less exposed to pay discrimination. The change will also have a positive impact on the efficiency of recruitment processes. The obligation to specify the salary in the offer of employment will ensure that employers will only receive applications from people who accept the proposed financial conditions. This will reduce the number of unnecessary job interviews, thereby reducing the cost of recruitment processes. Thanks to the new regulations, the people finally recruited will better match the needs and capabilities of employers.
The right to information about salary
The draft act contains a significant right for employees – the ability to request to the employer for information about their individual salary level and the average salary levels in a group of employees doing the same work as them or work of equal value. The amendment stipulates that this right will apply not only to employees with employment contracts, but also to those working under other contracts, such as a contract of mandate. The possibility to make such a request through representatives (e.g. a trade union) will be an important facilitator. If the response to a request is found to be inaccurate or incomplete, employees will have the right to request further clarification of the given information – the employer will then be obliged to clarify the response. The new right could contribute to radically change the salary policy of many companies. This is because it will be impossible to differentiate employees’ salaries on the basis of factors unrelated to the quality of work – such as gender, age or the employer’s personal biases.
New offences against employees’ rights
In order to ensure that employers fulfil the obligations described above, the drafters propose to introduce new offences against employee rights into the Labour Code, namely:
- not responding to an employees’ request regarding individual or average salary levels;
- publication of an offer of employment without information on the proposed salary;
- employing an employee at a salary less than that provided in the published offer
of employment.
Offences against employee rights are punishable by a fine from PLN 1 000 to PLN 30 000.
Summary
The main aim of the amendment is to eliminate discrimination and arbitrariness in salary determination. If the proposed changes enter into force, the situation of employees will improve in many aspects – the salary gap between men and women will be eliminated, and there will also be an increase in public awareness of the salaries offered in a particular industry. This will make it easier to make a deliberate decision about choosing or changing a career path. The positive effects of the changes will also include employers. The obligation to specify salary level in the offer will significantly reduce the time and costs of recruitment processes.
Author

Katarzyna Hiller
Partner, Attorney at Law, Compliance Officer, LL.M. in International Commercial Law
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