The French government completes its arsenal to fight wage inequality between men and women as it introduces the tool that will be used to measure any discrepancies in pay based on gender. Companies will be given a score based on certain criteria, including gender equality in salaries increases and promotions, among others.
The tool for measuring wage inequalities between women and men in companies was officially presented on November 22 by the French Minister of Labour and the Secretary of State for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination. As we have previously reported, equal pay for women and men in companies is now an obligation of results.
In order to ensure compliance with this obligation, companies in France will have to respect four main criteria:
Although a company is required to publish its score on its website, there is no obligation to provide the details that led to the score. However, these details will be communicated to the company's social and economic council.
It was initially intended for the tool for measuring gender pay inequalities in companies to be in the form of software, but this idea was quickly abandoned in favor of an index based on these five criteria:
While the criteria remain unchanged from those presented in July 2018, their precise content has been modified, as has their weight within the evaluation. The calculation is now based on 100 points (an increase from the 20 points previously proposed), broken down as follows:
Further details of this scale will be available when the decree implementing these provisions is published. After the measurement is complete, the labor inspectors will tally the company’s score. Fines will be imposed for companies with fewer than 75 points if no corrective measures are taken.
March 1, 2019: Companies with more than 1,000 employees must comply by this date. Companies with 250–1,000 employees could be accompanied by a network of delegates to equality during a support period until September 1, 2019, to implement the index.
July 2019: From the second half of 2019, the indicators should be automatically calculated via payroll software.
September 1, 2019: All companies with more than 250 employees must publish their overall scores for 2018 on their websites.
March 1, 2020: Overall scores for 2019 must be published no later than March 1, 2020, for all companies with more than 50 employees.
March 1, 2020: All companies that would not have achieved the objective will be subject to a fine of up to 1% of the company payroll. In certain cases, labor authorities may give companies an additional year to become compliant, especially small companies with more limited budgetary maneuvers.
March 1, 2023: Companies with more than 250 employees that would not have achieved the objective will be subject to a fine of up to 1% of the company payroll.
Corrective measures should pursue these five objectives:
France’s ambitious program to eliminate gender pay inequality is now in place. However, it should be noted that none of these obligations will apply to companies with fewer than 50 employees, which represents the majority of companies in France.
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