Private employers in Austria with more than 150 employees face an important compliance milestone under the country’s existing pay transparency framework.
Austria’s Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) requires qualifying employers to prepare a detailed income report every two years. The next reporting deadline is March 31, 2026.
Notably, this is likely to be the final reporting cycle under the current framework before Austria incorporates necessary changes required under the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which each EU Member State is required to transpose into national law by June 7, 2026, with first reporting obligations due by June 2027.
Austria’s draft transposition legislation has not yet been publicly released, but it is expected soon.
What Must Be Reported?
Employers that permanently employ more than 150 employees must prepare a “pay analysis” (income report) every two years.
The report must include:
Workforce Breakdown
- The number of women and men in the relevant collective agreement groups, or
- If applicable, company-specific employment groups
- If neither exists, employers must create functional groups aligned to the company’s activity structure
Employment Group Years
- The number of women and men broken down by individual employment group years within applicable employment groups
Pay Gap Analysis
- The average or median wages of women and men in the calendar year within each relevant employment group and employment group year
- Wages must be:
- Extrapolated to full-time for part-time employees
- Extrapolated to annual employment for employees who worked only part of the year
In practice, this may require:
- Developing gender pay differences
- Conducting a pay gap significance test in order to perform an equal pay risk assessment
- Providing a comprehensive pay gap analysis
- Delivering a wage distribution analysis
This is not a basic headcount exercise. It requires structured pay data modeling and defensible methodology.
Where and How Must the Report Be Submitted?
The income report is transmitted internally, not filed with a regulator.
Under Section 11a(3) of the Equal Treatment Act, it must be submitted in the first quarter of the calendar year following the reporting year (i.e. by March 31) as follows:
- To the Central Works Council, if one exists
- If not, to the relevant Works Committees
- If no Works Committees exist, to the Works Councils.If no employee representative body exists to provide employees with information that is relevant to them, the employer must:
- Place the report in a room accessible to all employees; and
- Announce its availability appropriately
This internal transparency model gives employees and workforce bodies standing to challenge non-compliance.
Enforcement and Risks of Non-Compliance
Austria’s framework combines reporting obligations, discrimination protections, and employee litigation rights.
Reporting Non-Compliance
- Workforce bodies and, if they do not exist, employees are entitled to receive the income report.
- If an employer fails to prepare or transmit it, workforce bodies or the employees, as applicable, may file a claim in court.
- A three-year statute of limitations applies under Section 1486 of the General Civil Code. The limitation period begins at the end of the first quarter of the calendar year following the reporting year.
Discrimination Violations
Section 12(1) of the Equal Treatment Act outlines consequences for unequal treatment, including potential civil liability and compensation.
The Austrian Senates of the Equal Treatment Commission may investigate:
- Upon request, or
- On their own authority
Transparency Violations
Under Section 10:
- Failure to comply with non-discrimination and gender-neutral job posting requirements may result in fines and potential criminal proceedings.
The Transition to the EU Pay Transparency Directive
March 31, 2026 is significant not only because it marks the upcoming reporting deadline — but because it likely represents the last cycle under Austria’s current income reporting regime.
By June 7, 2026, Austria must implement the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which introduces:
- Standardized gender pay gap reporting metrics for employers with 100+ employees
- Employee right-to-information obligations
- A 5% pay gap threshold triggering Joint Pay Assessments
- Mandatory remediation of unjustified pay gaps
- Structured reporting deadlines beginning in June 2027
While Austria’s draft transposition law has not yet been made public, it is expected shortly. Employers should anticipate alignment with Directive requirements and potentially expanded enforcement mechanisms.
How Trusaic Can Help
At Trusaic, we provide organizations with the tools and expertise needed to comply confidently with Austria’s current and future pay transparency requirements:
- PayParity®: Identify, explain, and resolve pay disparities across gender and other protected groups. Using regression-based, intersectional analysis, PayParity ensures your reporting is both compliant and legally defensible.
- Our Remediation Optimization Spend Agent (R.O.S.A.) works as PayParity’s AI remediation partner to find the most cost-effective way to close nominal pay gaps to ensure compliance.
- Regulatory Pay Transparency Reporting™ (RAPTR): Automate complex reporting obligations across jurisdictions, including Austria. RAPTR helps you generate reports that meet local compliance standards with one click, while tracking deadlines and regulatory changes.
- Salary Range Finder®: Establish transparent and equitable salary bands to prevent new inequities from forming — supporting both compliance and fair pay practices.
- Pay Decisions: Generate fair, competitive offers instantly from Workday.
With Trusaic’s Pay Equity Software Suite, employers can move beyond minimum compliance to build a proactive, future-proof pay equity strategy.
