Request Salary Information From Your Employer

Your right to request salary information, in plain words

In October 2026, Croatia's labour minister Alen Ružić set out planned changes to the country's Labour Act that would let workers ask their employer what colleagues doing the same work earn on average, split by gender, and demand an explanation for any difference. Croatian media summed it up as: earning less than a colleague? Here is what you can ask your boss. A week later, on 1 November 2026, Greece's new pay-transparency law starts to apply.

Both come from the same EU law: the Pay Transparency Directive, Directive (EU) 2023/970. Its Article 7 gives every worker the right to request and receive, in writing, two things: their own individual pay level, and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work as them or work of equal value. Every EU country had to put this into national law by 7 June 2026.

The point is simple. Pay discrimination survives because nobody can see it. Once you can compare your pay with the average for your kind of work, "I think I'm underpaid" becomes something you can check — and, if the gap can't be justified, challenge.

What you can ask for — and what you can't

The directive is precise about what the employer has to give you:

• Your individual pay level. The directive defines "pay level" as gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay — so expect both figures, not just a monthly number.
• The average pay level of women and of men in your category of workers: people doing the same work as you, or work of equal value. Equal value is judged on objective, gender-neutral criteria such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions, so it can cover different job titles.
• Clarification. If the figures you receive are inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask for additional, reasonable details and must receive a substantiated reply.
• Pay means more than base salary. It covers any cash or in-kind payment you receive because of your job, such as bonuses, overtime pay, allowances and benefits in kind. Croatia's announcement explicitly mentions bonuses, allowances and the use of a company car.

What you cannot get is a named colleague's salary. The answer is an average for a group. Where a group is so small that the figure would reveal one identifiable person's pay, countries may decide that only workers' representatives, the labour inspectorate or the equality body see the detail — they then advise you without disclosing individual salaries. Information you receive about others may only be used to pursue equal pay, not shared for other purposes; information about your own pay is yours to use.

This is also different from what you can ask as a job applicant. Before you are hired, Article 5 gives you the right to the starting pay or pay range for the role — usually in the job ad or before the interview — and bans the employer from asking about your pay history. The Article 7 request in this guide is for people who already work for the employer.

Who must answer, how fast, and in what form

• Every employer. Unlike gender pay gap reporting, which starts with employers of 100 or more workers, the right to information has no company-size threshold in the directive.
• In writing, within two months. The employer must reply within a reasonable period and at the latest two months from the date of your request.
• Through someone else if you prefer. You can make the request yourself, through your workers' representatives (a works council or union, depending on your country), or through the national equality body.
• You should already have been told. Employers must inform all workers once a year of this right and of the steps to use it — check your intranet, staff handbook or HR portal.

National laws can add detail. Greece's Law 5316/2026, for example, allows employers to refuse requests that are manifestly disproportionate or abusive — so keep your request specific and tied to equal pay.

Where the right already applies (as of October 2026)

The deadline for every country was 7 June 2026, but most missed it. Your right is enforceable against a private employer once your own country's law takes effect:

• Transposed: Greece (Law 5316/2026, published 6 July 2026, with the pay-transparency duties applying from 1 November 2026), Italy, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia had adopted laws as of mid-2026.
• Announced: Croatia's government has outlined Labour Act amendments giving workers access to pay information by role and gender and the right to an explanation; the proposals include fines of up to €9,000 for employers. No date had been set as of October 2026.
• Still drafting: Czechia, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, among others, were at draft or early stages in autumn 2026. The Dutch government has said its planned 1 January 2027 start now looks uncertain, and France aims to finish before its spring 2027 presidential election.

If your country is late, you can still ask — many employers are preparing to comply and will answer. Separately, the GDPR already lets you request a copy of the personal data your employer holds about you, which includes your own pay records, though not other people's averages.

What to do with the answer

Compare your pay level with the average for your gender and for the other gender in the same category. A gap is not automatically discrimination — differences can be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria such as relevant experience or performance under a transparent system. Your employer must also make the criteria it uses for pay and pay progression easily accessible (employers with fewer than 50 workers may be exempted from the progression part), so ask for them if you don't have them.

• If the figures are unclear or incomplete, use your right to ask for clarification and a substantiated reply.
• If there is a gap nobody can explain, raise it with HR or your manager in writing and ask how it will be corrected.
• Use the numbers in your next pay review or negotiation. Knowing the average for your category, and the market rate for your role, is the strongest anchor you can have.

If your employer refuses, stalls or retaliates

The directive gives you real leverage if things go wrong:

• No retaliation. You may not be treated less favourably — dismissed, sidelined or denied a raise — because you exercised your equal-pay rights or helped a colleague with theirs.
• The burden of proof can flip. In a pay-discrimination case, an employer that has not met its transparency duties, including answering your Article 7 request, has to prove there was no discrimination, unless the failure was manifestly unintentional and minor.
• Full compensation. Victims of pay discrimination are entitled to full back pay, related bonuses, compensation for lost opportunities and non-material damage, plus interest, with no upper limit set in advance.
• Time to act. National limitation periods for equal-pay claims must be at least three years, and cannot start running before you knew, or could reasonably have known, about the problem.
• Help is available. The labour inspectorate and the national equality body can take complaints, and unions, equality bodies and similar organisations can act on your behalf with your consent.