Pay transparency and Legislative Decree 96/2026: what changes for businesses

The principle of equal pay between men and women, for the same work or for work of equal value, is significantly reinforced by the new decree in terms of its practical effectiveness. The aim is not to eliminate every pay difference, but to make the criteria for determining pay verifiable: differences remain legitimate where they rest on objective, gender-neutral factors, and become open to challenge where they lack adequate justification.

In operational terms, this entails a review of recruitment processes, pay policies and information obligations towards workers. The applicable obligations and the relevant timelines are set out below.

When Legislative Decree 96/2026 applies

Legislative Decree no. 96 of 7 May 2026, adopted to implement the 2022-2023 European Delegation Law (Law no. 15/2024), implements EU Directive 2023/970 and was published in the Italian Official Journal (Gazzetta Ufficiale) no. 125 of 1 June 2026, entering into force on 7 June 2026. While some obligations take effect immediately, further implementing aspects — in particular the methods for collecting and reporting data and the guidance on the notion of “work of equal value” — are deferred to subsequent ministerial decrees. It is therefore advisable to prioritise, from now, the obligations that are already operational, putting the necessary organisational measures in place in good time.

Who it applies to: scope and size thresholds

The decree applies to employee (subordinate) work — permanent and fixed-term, part-time, managerial positions and apprenticeships — in both the private and public sectors, with the sole exclusion of domestic work and on-call (intermittent) work. Certain provisions, in particular those concerning recruitment, are also relevant to job applicants.

Particular attention should be paid to how the size thresholds are counted (50, 100, 150 and 250 employees), which operates per individual legal entity and not at group level. Each company is therefore assessed on its own headcount, with direct effects on identifying the applicable obligations.

Obligations for all employers

1. Recruitment and job ads

From the moment it enters into force, the employer must state the starting salary or pay range in job ads and, in any case, before the interview, while it is prohibited to ask candidates for information about their current or previous pay, including through parties tasked with recruitment. Gender-neutral job titles and non-discriminatory selection procedures must also be adopted. These are the obligations of most immediate application, to be addressed as a priority.

2. Transparency and worker information

The employer must make accessible the criteria used to determine pay and, for headcounts of 50 employees or more, also the pay-progression criteria. At an individual worker’s request, the employer is also required to reply in writing within two months regarding their own pay level and the average levels, broken down by sex, of those performing the same work or work of equal value; the right may be exercised once a year and is accompanied by an annual notice to staff. Finally, the imposition of pay-secrecy clauses is prohibited, without prejudice to the worker’s right to disclose their own pay in order to protect equal treatment.

3. Pay structure and “work of equal value”

Pay structures must be founded on objective, gender-neutral criteria for the purpose of assessing “the same work” and “work of equal value”. Applying a national collective agreement (CCNL) signed by the comparatively most representative organisations constitutes a presumption of compliance, without prejudice to the possibility of also adopting equally objective and neutral company-level evaluation systems.

From 100 employees: gender pay gap reporting

In addition to the general obligations, employers with at least 100 employees are required to report the gender pay gap periodically — mean and median gap, gaps in the variable components, distribution by pay quartile and by category of worker. The first report varies according to company size:

Gender pay gap reporting timetable (Art. 9)

Oversight, burden of proof and protections

The decree strengthens the system of controls and judicial protection. In equal-pay disputes, the burden of proof is reversed onto the employer, and specific protection against retaliation is provided for workers and their representatives; the processing of pay data remains subject to personal-data-protection safeguards. On the sanctions side, the framework refers to the Equal Opportunities Code (Legislative Decree 198/2006), with possible implications for access to public benefits and tenders. The existing obligation to file the biennial report on the situation of male and female staff for employers with more than 50 employees also remains in place.

What to do now: an operational checklist

The first activities are mainly organisational in nature and can be undertaken from now:

• •Update job-ad templates and recruitment briefs (pay range, gender-neutral titles).
• •Remove any request about previous pay from forms and interview grids.
• •Delete pay-confidentiality clauses from contracts and policies.
• •Prepare a response template for workers’ requests and set up the annual notice.
• •Review and document pay criteria (and progression criteria, if at least 50 employees).
• •If approaching or exceeding 100 employees, build the data set from payroll in good time for the 2027 report.
• •Address the topic in a coordinated way across HR, Legal and Payroll, not as a mere formality.