Pay transparency in Italy
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Pay information requests In force
Average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories performing the same work or work of equal value. Art. 7 does not expressly reproduce the Directive's separate right to the worker's own individual pay level.
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Time to respond 2 months, in writing; the request right may be exercised no more than once per year
Every request starts a clock. Answering one needs pay structures and equal-value groupings that already exist.
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Salary history questions are banned
Applicants learn the pay range before the interview, and employers may not ask what they earn today.
Italy’s version of the EU Pay Transparency Directive is now in force. The core measure, Decreto Legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96, took effect on 7 June 2026 and applies nationwide, covering both public and private employers.
The transparency rights apply to subordinate employees, and the job-applicant protections, such as the salary history ban, extend to candidates as well. Domestic and intermittent workers fall outside the scope, and Italy keeps its own pre-existing biennial gender workforce and pay reporting regime running alongside this new framework for employers with more than 50 staff.
Some pieces are still being finalised. Technical rules for pay reporting, the composition of the monitoring body, and job-evaluation guidance are all expected under the decree, but as of the last verification date no final implementing measure had been published. Treat the core obligations as binding now, and expect more detail on the mechanics of reporting to follow.
The measure
- Law or measure
- Decreto Legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96
- Core obligations start
- 7 Jun 2026
- Who is covered
- Public and private employers. Core transparency rights cover subordinate employees; Art. 5 also covers job applicants.
What the law requires
- Pay range before the interview Source for: Pay range before the interview
- Salary history questions banned Source for: Salary history questions banned
- Pay information requests, 2 months, in writing; the request right may be exercised no more than once per year to respond Source for: Pay information requests, 2 months, in writing; the request right may be exercised no more than once per year to respond
- Gap reporting from 100 employees Source for: Gap reporting from 100 employees
- Joint pay assessment at a 5.0% gap
How Italy differs from the Directive
Notable national features/deviations: salary/range must be in the job notice itself; domestic and intermittent workers are excluded; Art. 7 does not expressly reproduce access to the worker's own individual pay level; the 'pay level' definition excludes specified non-structural individual components; Art. 4 does not separately list 'effort'; representative collective-agreement systems receive a rebuttable presumption of compliance. A separate legacy biennial gender workforce/pay report already applies to employers with >50 employees.
What this means for employers
Because the core law is already in force, this is not a future planning exercise for Italy: the obligations apply today. Job postings, recruitment practices, pay documentation and your response process for employee information requests all need to reflect the current rules, alongside your existing biennial gender reporting duties.
- Update job ads so the initial pay or applicable range appears in the notice itself, together with relevant collective-agreement information.
- Stop asking about salary history from candidates, directly or indirectly, and review recruitment wording for gender-neutral language.
- Document your pay and progression criteria so you can support them if challenged, and remove any internal pay-secrecy restrictions.
- Set up a workflow for employee information requests, since you must respond in writing within two months and employees can exercise this right once a year.
- Validate your job architecture for equal-value comparisons, since average pay-level requests are based on categories of work, not just job titles.
- Prepare for reporting if you have 100 or more employees, and build a process for a joint pay assessment in case a gap of 5% or more is identified.
Enforcement and open questions
- Competent authority
- Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali; Ispettorato Nazionale del Lavoro and equality bodies for enforcement functions
- Equality body
- Equality bodies / Consigliere di parità under D.Lgs. 198/2006
- Penalties
- Art. 13 routes established pay discrimination into the remedies under D.Lgs. 198/2006, including cessation and damages. Breaches of transparency duties also affect the evidentiary burden and enforcement exposure.
- What could still change
- Final decree is in force, but secondary implementation remains relevant. Art. 9 technical/data rules are due within 90 days of entry into force; Art. 14 monitoring-body composition/operation within 180 days; job-evaluation guidance may be issued by 31 Dec 2026. No relevant final implementing measure was identified in the official-source search as of 7 Aug 2026.
Common questions
Is the EU Pay Transparency Directive already in force in Italy?
Yes. Italy transposed the Directive through Decreto Legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96, which entered into force on 7 June 2026 and applies nationwide to public and private employers.
Do job ads in Italy need to show a salary range?
Yes. Employers must state the initial pay or the applicable salary range directly in the job notice or call for applications itself, along with relevant collective-agreement information. This is a specific national feature of Italy's approach.
Can employees in Italy request information about pay levels?
Yes. Workers can request, in writing, the average pay levels broken down by sex for categories doing the same work or work of equal value. Employers must respond within two months, and the request right can be used once per year.
What is Italy's pay reporting threshold and when is the first report due?
The Directive's reporting duties apply to employers with 100 or more employees, using the EU's seven standard metrics. Employers with 250 or more employees collect their first data by 7 June 2027, while employers with 100 to 149 employees have until 7 June 2031.
What triggers a joint pay assessment in Italy?
A pay gap of 5% or more between categories of work of equal value can trigger the joint pay assessment process. Employers should have a process ready to escalate and review pay differences if this threshold is reached.
Does Italy's older gender pay reporting law still apply?
Yes. Italy's existing biennial gender workforce and pay reporting regime for employers with more than 50 employees continues to run alongside the new Directive-based framework, so both sets of obligations are relevant.
- Pay information request right Art. 7(1)
- In force
- Response deadline Art. 7(4)
- 2 months, in writing; the request right may be exercised no more than once per year
- Salary range in recruitment Art. 5(1)
- Yes
- Salary history questions banned Art. 5(2)
- Yes
- Joint pay assessment trigger Art. 10(1)
- 5.0%
Average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories performing the same work or work of equal value. Art. 7 does not expressly reproduce the Directive's separate right to the worker's own individual pay level.
Workers may request written sex-disaggregated average pay levels for categories doing the same work or work of equal value; the separate own-pay entitlement is supported by existing employment-information law.
Read the sourceThe employer must answer in writing within this period.
The response is due within two months, and the statutory request right may be exercised once per year.
Read the sourceApplicants receive the pay or pay range before the interview, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.
Initial pay or the applicable range must be stated in job notices and calls for applications.
Read the sourceWhether employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their current or previous pay.
Employers may not request or indirectly obtain current or previous pay information from candidates.
Read the sourceThe unjustified gap that obliges the employer and worker representatives to assess pay together.
- Reporting threshold
- 100 employees
- Reporting model
- Employer-calculated / employer-filed Operational data-production and filing model for pay-gap reporting: employer-calculated, authority-calculated, hybrid, proposed, pre-existing or absent.
- First report, 250 or more employees
- By 7 Jun 2027
- First report, 100 to 149 employees
- By 7 Jun 2031
- Metrics required
- EU seven only Art. 9(1): Seven metrics: mean gap; variable-component gap; median gap; median variable gap; variable-pay participation by sex; quartile distribution by sex; category-level gap split basic and variable.
- Pre-existing regime
- Italy's pre-existing biennial gender workforce/pay reporting regime for employers with more than 50 employees continues alongside the Directive framework.
- Formal transposition stage
- Fully in force
- Scope
- Nationwide
Next milestone
Monitor technical reporting rules and the monitoring-body decree.
Primary sources
- Decreto Legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96 Primary source, checked 7 August 2026
- Formal transposition stage Fully in force · in force · high confidence
- Core employer obligations In force · in force · high confidence
- Transposition scope Nationwide · in force · high confidence
- Salary range in recruitment Yes · in force · high confidence
- Salary history questions banned Yes · in force · high confidence
- Pay information request right Yes · in force · high confidence
- Response deadline 2 months, in writing; the request right may be exercised no more than once per year · in force · high confidence
- Reporting threshold 100 · in force · high confidence
- First report, 250 or more employees By 7 Jun 2027 · in force · high confidence
- First report, 100 to 149 employees By 7 Jun 2031 · in force · high confidence
- Reporting model Employer-calculated / employer-filed · in force · high confidence
This page is maintained by Evenpay from official primary sources and reviewed before publication. It is general information, not legal advice. Requirements vary by member state and change as national laws progress; figures described as proposed are subject to amendment.
