Italy Pay Transparency Law: 2026 Employer Guide

By Zhuang Liu

BLOG OVERVIEW: Italy has officially transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive through Legislative Decree No. 96/2026, effective June 7, 2026. Employers must now base pay and classification systems on objective, gender-neutral criteria, disclose salary ranges to candidates, and stop asking about pay history. Employees may request average pay levels by sex once a year. Gender pay gap reporting phases in by headcount, starting June 7, 2027, for employers with 250 or more staff; unjustified gaps of 5% or more trigger joint pay assessments. Refinements now bring apprenticeships into scope and set a 60-day response deadline. Preparation should begin now.

On May 7, 2026, Italy adopted Legislative Decree No. 96 of 2026, officially transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive (the Directive) into national law. Published on June 1, 2026, the decree entered into force on the Directive's transposition deadline of June 7, 2026. The final text largely follows the draft legislative decree released in February of 2026, but it introduces a number of refinements that employers should pay attention to.

Defining Same Work and Work of Equal Value

Article 4 of Italy's decree establishes how employers should determine whether employees perform the same work or work of equal value for equal pay purposes. It requires pay and job classification systems to be based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, such as skills, responsibilities, and working conditions. As in the draft, Italy places significant reliance on national collective bargaining agreements (CCNLs): the article provides that the classification systems established by these agreements are presumed to comply with the principles of equal pay and transparency referred to in this decree, and can be used as a reference tool for the purposes of comparison. The final decree broadens the set of recognized reference tools, adding classification systems established through decentralized bargaining and supplementary bargaining alongside those set by the CCNLs. Employer-designed professional classification and evaluation systems remain permitted, provided they rely on objective and gender-neutral criteria. Additional implementation guidelines may be adopted by the Minister of Labour and Social Policies by December 31, 2026.

Pay Transparency at the Recruitment Stage

Article 5 introduces transparency measures at the recruitment stage. Employers must:

• Provide candidates with information about the starting salary or salary range and the provisions of relevant collective agreement.
• Avoid asking applicants about their current or previous pay, whether directly or indirectly through third parties handling hiring.

Article 6 also requires employers to make available the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and economic progression. For employers applying a CCNL, this obligation is satisfied by reference to the criteria, classification levels and pay set out in the applicable agreement. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not required to disclose the criteria for economic progression, and the final decree now specifies the statutory method for counting the 50-employee threshold.

Employee Rights to Pay Information

Under Article 7, employees have the right to request and receive in writing, within two months, information on the average pay levels, broken down by sex, of the categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value—either directly or, on specific delegation, through their representatives or an equality body. The final decree clarifies that this right may not be exercised more than once a year. Employers must annually inform all workers of this right and how to exercise it, and must provide reasoned clarifications where the information provided is inaccurate or incomplete. Workers cannot be prevented from disclosing their own pay, and pay-secrecy clauses are prohibited.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

The decree confirms Italy's adoption of the Directive's gender pay gap reporting obligations (Article 9). Employers above the relevant headcount thresholds must periodically report gender pay data covering areas such as:

• Overall gender pay gaps and gaps in complementary or variable components.
• Median gender pay gaps and median gaps in complementary or variable components.
• The proportion of women and men receiving variable components, and gender distribution across pay quartiles.
• Gender pay gaps by category of worker, broken down by basic salary versus variable components.

The reporting obligations apply to employers with at least 100 employees, phased by size:

• Employers with at least 250 employees: data collected by June 7, 2027, and annually thereafter.
• Employers with 150-249 employees: data collected by June 7, 2027, and every three years thereafter.
• Employers with 100-149 employees: data collected by June 7, 2031, and every three years thereafter.

Workers, their representatives, the Labour Inspectorate and equality bodies may request clarifications and further detail, and the final decree now requires employers to provide a reasoned response within 60 days.

Joint Pay Assessments

Article 10 requires employers subject to the reporting obligations to carry out a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives where all three of the following conditions are met:

• Pay reporting shows an average pay gap of at least 5% between male and female employees within any category of workers.
• The employer cannot justify the gap using objective and gender-neutral criteria.
• The employer fails to correct the gap within six months after the pay information is communicated.

The joint assessment must analyze pay structures within the organization, including gender distribution across worker categories, average pay levels of men and women (including variable components), the size of any differences and their reasons, assessed against objective and gender-neutral criteria, whether employees returning from maternity, paternity, parental or carers' leave experienced pay progression, and the effectiveness of measures taken following previous assessments.

Key Changes in the Final Decree

While the final decree preserves the overall structure and substance of the February 2026 draft, several changes are worth noting:

• Apprenticeship contracts now covered: the draft excluded apprenticeship contracts from scope; Article 2 of the final decree removes that exclusion, so apprenticeships now fall within scope. Only domestic work and intermittent employment contracts remain excluded.
• Right to information capped at once per year: Article 7 of the final decree adds a limit that an employee may exercise the pay-information request right no more than once a year.
• Fixed deadlines for employer responses: the draft required a reply to data clarification requests 'within a reasonable time'; Article 9 of the final decree sets a concrete 60-day deadline.
• Broader recognition of classification systems: in addition to the CCNL, Article 4 of the final decree adds decentralized and supplementary bargaining as valid reference tools for comparing work of equal value, and references employer evaluation systems.
• Method for counting the 50-employee threshold: Article 6 of the final decree specifies in more detail the rules for counting employees when applying the disclosure exemption.

Next Steps for Employers

With the official legislative decree now in full force, employers in Italy should move from monitoring to implementation. Near-term priorities include reviewing job classification and pay-setting frameworks against Article 4, adapting recruitment practices and job postings to Article 5, and preparing the systems needed to respond to Article 7 information requests. Larger employers should begin building the data infrastructure for gender pay gap reporting ahead of their first reporting date.

DCI will continue to track developments across Europe as member states implement the Directive and will provide updates as further guidance emerges.

DCI Consulting helps employers turn complex EU Pay Transparency requirements into clear, defensible pay decisions before reporting becomes mandatory. We partner with your organization to establish or review worker categories, conduct required gender pay gap analyses, develop targeted remediation strategies, and provide guidance on right to information requests. Visit our EU Pay Transparency Directive page to learn how your organization can prepare to confidently meet upcoming deadlines and subsequent reporting requirements.