Gender Pay Gap Reporting - Labour Bill Accepted by Seanad

The gender pay gap in Ireland has widened over the last five years. Government has sought to close the gap by introducing new legislation, namely the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017. The Bill was accepted by Government on Wednesday 25th October and attempts to eliminate the disparity in pay between men and women.

The Bill, introduced by Labour Senator Ivana Bacik, assigns new powers to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to make mandatory information disclosure schemes. Under the schemes businesses will be compelled to publish details on what they pay men and women.

“Part of the problem is we don’t have transparency,” Ms Bacik said. “We don’t know what companies have a real problem with a gender pay disparity. So our Bill seeks to address that problem."

The Bill will require companies with more than 50 employees to reveal details of any gender pay gap among staff, as well as disclosing the nature and scale of the problem. Companies will be obliged to publish details of the gender breakdown, enabling employees to see if a gender pay gap exists at various levels in their organisation.

Once the Oireachtas approves the Bill it is likely to come into force early next year. More information about the Bill can be found online:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=35183

Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/new-laws-set-to-force-businesses-to-reveal-gender-gaps-on-pay-1.3269024