Austria
Implementing the Pay Transparency Directive in Austria
Austria has not yet transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive into national law, even though the deadline expired on 7 June 2026 (as of July 2026). Transposition is expected through amendments to the Equal Treatment Act (GlBG) and the Labour Constitution Act (ArbVG). For employers this means: the EU baseline is the benchmark, and existing Austrian law continues to apply.
What already applies in Austria today
Austria already has pay transparency instruments that apply independently of the Directive: under Section 11a of the Equal Treatment Act, employers with more than 150 workers must prepare an anonymised income report every two years and make it available to worker representatives. Job postings must state the minimum pay under the applicable collective agreement and any willingness to overpay (Section 9(2) GlBG).
These instruments remain in force until amended, but fall well short of the Directive: the income report includes neither the individual information right nor the 5% trigger or external submission of the metrics.
What will change with transposition
Even without a final legislative text, the framework can be derived from the Directive, which leaves little national leeway on many points:
- An individual right for all workers to request average pay levels by gender, with a two-month response deadline.
- Pay ranges already during recruiting and a ban on asking about previous pay.
- Reporting duties from 100 workers with external submission to a monitoring body – considerably broader than today’s income report.
- A joint pay assessment with worker representatives for unexplained gaps of 5% or more.
- A reversed burden of proof and penalties, whose specifics (fine levels, competent authorities) the national legislator will define.
Open national questions
The Austrian legislator still has to define, among other things: the monitoring body for report data, the relationship between the new reporting and the existing Section 11a income report, the role of works councils and the Ombud for Equal Treatment, the headcount method for the thresholds, and penalty levels. Until then, statements on these points are forecasts – we label them as such and update this page when legislation changes.
What Austrian employers should do now
The missed transposition deadline is no reason to wait – on the contrary: the first reporting date of 7 June 2027 applies EU-wide, and the underlying data is being created this year. Employers should build job architecture and worker categories now, consolidate compensation data including variable components, switch recruiting to pay ranges and establish the information-request workflow. Employers already producing the Section 11a income report have a starting point – but must extend category logic and metrics to the Directive.
Frequently asked questions
Has Austria transposed the Pay Transparency Directive yet?
No. The deadline expired on 7 June 2026, but no Austrian implementation act has been promulgated yet (as of July 2026). Amendments to the Equal Treatment Act and the Labour Constitution Act are expected.
Does the Austrian income report under Section 11a GlBG still apply?
Yes, existing law applies until amended: employers with more than 150 workers prepare an income report every two years. The Directive goes considerably further.
Do Austrian employers need to act despite the missing transposition?
Yes. The first EU reporting date of 7 June 2027 covers a past reference year, and building job evaluation, categories and the data foundation takes months. Employers who wait will struggle to produce a defensible first report.