Spain Gender Pay Gap Reporting Law Guide

Who Needs to Report?

All employers must complete a remuneration register. Employers with 50 or more employees must perform a job evaluation, remuneration audit and Equality Plan.

What to Report?

Royal Decree 902/2020 establishes four key components for pay transparency:

Remuneration register: Every company is required to prepare a register, including aggregated and disaggregated pay data. All employees are to be included, including executives, senior managers, part-time employees, and people on fixed-terms contracts that have been in place for six months. The register must include average and median pay broken down by gender, base pay and compensation (including bonuses and additional benefits), and professional classification groups. Remuneration registers must be reviewed annually.

Job Evaluation System: Job evaluations are intended to establish equal pay for work of equal value and are used in the remuneration audit and the remuneration register. Employers must ensure job classifications do not contribute to discrimination. Job evaluations are obligatory for companies with 50 or more employees.

Remuneration Audit: The remuneration audit's purpose is to obtain the necessary info to verify whether the company's remuneration system complies with the effective application of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, and identify any adjusted pay gaps. It must also include an action plan that explains how the employer will close such identified gaps. The audit shall be valid for the duration of the equality plan unless a shorter period is determined. Note, per government issued guidance, the remuneration register and job evaluation are prerequisites to a remuneration audit. Remuneration audits are required for every organization with 50 or more employees.

Equality Plan: Employers with 50 or more workers, or if the company is required to do so per a collective bargaining agreement, or due to ancillary sanctions, must create and publicly register an equality plan. An equality plan is a set of specific measures to ensure equal treatment of and equal opportunities for men and women. It must incorporate, among other measures, the results of the company's remuneration audit.

Equality plans must comply with Chapter 3 of Royal Decree 901/2020, covering the following:

• Selection and recruitment process.
• Professional classification.
• Training.
• Career advancement.
• Working conditions, including the salary audit between women and men in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 902/2020, on equal pay between women and men.
• Co-responsible exercise of the rights of personal, family and working life.
• Under-representation of women.
• Remuneration
• Prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment.

Equality Plans are aimed at achieving equal treatment and opportunities for women and men and eliminating discrimination on the grounds of gender. The results of the company's remuneration audit should be included in the plan. Plans are to be negotiated with workers' representatives or labor unions.

After a maximum of four years, a new equality plan is required. Appendix of Royal Decree 901/2020 provides employers with guidance on what to consider in the preparation of an Equality Plan.

Where and When to Report?

Relevant employers must report on the above mentioned requirements as follow:

Regulatory Filing

• Equality Plans must be submitted to the public register, and will be published in the equality section of the website of the Ministry of Finance and Public Function. Royal Decree 713/2010 requires registration to be mediated through the Register of Collective Bargaining Agreements and Collective Labor Agreements.
• The remuneration register does not need to be filed to the governing body or publicly, but employers are obligated to store and make readily available for inspection

Internal Disclosure

• All employees will be entitled to access the register through workers' representatives, or if none, then have direct access, but the information will be limited to the statistical analysis - the average pay percentage differences between men and women. In other words, individual level pay data will not be accessible.
• Royal Decree 713/2010 requires registration to be mediated through the Register of Collective Bargaining Agreements and Collective Labor Agreements.

Deadlines and Cadence

Remuneration registers must be conducted annually. Employers subject to the job evaluation, remuneration audit, and equality plan must report 4 after becoming subject to the act.