Gender Pay Gap Reporting will become law in Ireland over the coming months. It is now appropriate for companies affected by same to be upping their preparation and assessing its impact.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting Update
The current Irish gender pay gap Information Bill 2019 should become law either later this year or more likely early next year.
It is very likely to mirror much of the current UK similar legislation.
The affected Irish threshold for reporting purposes is likely to be Organisations with 50 employees or greater, introduced on a phased basis.
Fulltime and part-time employee groupings will be required to be reported on and separately.
Bonus payments and BIK payments will also be required to be reported on separately for male and female employees
Reporting is likely to require official reporting to the relevant authority together with communication to Company employee populations.
Enforcement is likely to be via the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)
Reporting is likely to be a once a year activity
Reporting formats/manner/etc. will be laid down in the legislation or its enabling regulations
Key Points to remember
The Irish workforce is essentially 50% male 50% FemaleIreland has a current Gender Pay Gap standing at 13.9% (based on 2014 data)
Gender Pay is not the same thing as Equal Pay
Good preplanning initiatives to consider now would include
Review of existing flexible working policing & arrangements
Development of An Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy if one does not already exist. If one does it may need to be updated and expanded
Conducting of an Equal Pay Audit
Conducting a current Pay Gap Report to get an insight into current status well in advance of reporting requirements.
Sean Kane