The Finnish government has published its draft legislation to implement the EU Pay Transparency Directive, taking a methodical yet ambitious approach to promote equal pay for work of equal value. The draft legislation outlines how Finland plans to uphold the Directive’s transparency mandates while adapting certain elements to fit the national context.
With the transposition deadline set for June 7, 2026 and an expected national enactment date of May 18, 2026, Finnish employers must begin preparing now to meet the complex requirements ahead.
Core Elements of Finland’s Proposed Law
Finland’s proposed legislation adheres closely to the minimum requirements of the EU Directive, introducing foundational changes that will affect how employers handle recruitment, compensation, and employee data requests. Key elements include:
- Salary range disclosure: Employers must provide job applicants with starting salary or salary range details in a timely manner. While the job posting itself doesn’t need to include this information, transparency during recruitment is required.
- Ban on salary history inquiries: Employers will be prohibited from asking job applicants about their pay history, ensuring that future compensation is not shaped by past inequities.
- Employee right to information: Employees will be allowed to request information annually on pay levels and average pay by gender for roles of equal or comparable value. Employers must provide this data within two months of a request.
Notably, these measures apply to all employers, regardless of size, underscoring Finland’s strong stance on universal application of transparency rights.
Pay Gap Reporting and Employer Obligations
Employers with 100 or more employees will be subject to mandatory gender pay gap reporting. The requirements include:
- Median and mean gender pay gaps
- Gender distribution within pay quartiles
- Breakdowns of variable pay components
- Pay gap tables by job category, to be created by employers and shared with employee representatives and the workforce
- Retention and disclosure of pay gap data for the preceding four years upon request
Reporting will follow the phased thresholds outlined in the Directive:
- Employers with 250+ employees: Annual reporting
- Employers with 150–249 employees: First report due by 2027
- Employers with 100–149 employees: First report due by 2031
Finland will also require employers with 50 or more employees to explicitly outline their pay progression criteria, helping to clarify promotion and compensation practices.
Centralized Data Collection with Local Execution
To reduce administrative complexity, the Finnish government will gather key data — such as pay distributions and quartile metrics—through the national Tulorekisteri (Income Register) and other statistical databases. However, employers themselves are responsible for generating and distributing category-specific pay gap tables and conducting joint pay assessments if unjustified gender pay gaps are identified.
Definition of Equal Work
Consistent with the Directive, Finland defines work of equal value based on:
- Responsibility
- Working conditions
- Skills and qualifications
- Effort
This provides a standard framework for assessing pay fairness and evaluating employee comparability.
Enforcement and Penalties
Finland introduces a robust enforcement structure, with administrative omission fees ranging from €5,000 to €80,000 for non-compliance. Fines may be issued for:
- Failing to conduct or submit a joint pay assessment
- Submitting a joint pay assessment that lacks an objective justification for gender pay gaps
These penalties do not include backpay or compensation to affected individuals, which may be pursued separately through legal claims.
The penalty amount will depend on company turnover and the severity of the violation, signaling a serious enforcement posture.
Implications for Employers
Employers operating in Finland — especially those with 50 or more employees — will need to:
- Modernize and document their pay-setting and evaluation processes
- Ensure criteria are gender-neutral and transparent
- Update recruitment procedures to disclose salary ranges and remove salary history questions
- Prepare internal infrastructure to handle employee data requests and pay gap disclosures
- Establish ongoing systems to maintain reporting compliance across future years
Larger employers should begin assessing pay equity now to proactively address disparities and avoid fines, reputational risks, or legal challenges.
How Trusaic Can Help
Trusaic’s PayParity® and RAPTR® solutions are built to support global employers with complex, multi-jurisdictional pay equity requirements—including those emerging under the EU Pay Transparency Directive.
From ensuring gender-neutral compensation frameworks to enabling automated, legally-defensible reporting, Trusaic empowers organizations to comply with confidence.
Our software centralizes pay equity analytics, automates report generation, and ensures your workforce compensation practices align with the EU Directive and Finland’s unique implementation.
With the proposed legislation slated for enactment by May 18, 2026, Finnish employers should use this lead time wisely. The transition to greater pay transparency demands planning, data integrity, and cross-functional coordination between HR, legal, and compliance teams.
Visit our always updated Member State Transposition Monitor to stay on top of the latest EU Pay Transparency Directive developments.