MHC warns employers on pay transparency
A survey carried out by business-law firm Mason Hayes & Curran (MHC) has found that, while one in five employers see incoming rules on pay transparency as an unnecessary burden, three in ten anticipate a positive effect.
According to the survey, almost half (48%) of the 500 employers at the firm’s recent employment-law webinar say that the rules will have a neutral impact on their organisation.
The rules, set out by the EU Pay Transparency Directive, require employers to disclose salary ranges and strengthen equal-pay enforcement to reduce gender pay gaps.
Phased approach
MHC says that Ireland faces missing a 7 June deadline for transposing the directive, adding that 16 EU member states have not yet published implementing legislation.
The firm expects Ireland to adopt a phased approach, starting with pre-employment obligations – including salary disclosure in job advertisements.
MHC employment-law partner Ger Connolly says that many employers are underestimating the scale of the change, pointing out that pay transparency goes further than the existing gender-pay-gap reporting framework, which captures the average difference between male and female earnings across an organisation.
“It requires employers to classify workers and show that employees doing equal work or work of equal value receive equal pay based on gender-neutral criteria,” he states.
Retirement ages
The survey also found that nearly half of Irish employers (49%) have not reviewed their retirement policies in response to the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Act 2025, expected to come into force later this year.
The new retirement-age rules give employees the right to request to remain in work beyond a company retirement age where that age falls below the State pension age, currently 66.
Employment-law partner Kady O’Connell says that the window for organisations to prepare for the changes is narrowing, stressing that retirement ages must be objectively justifiable.
“When a request comes in under the new act, employers will have one month to respond in writing with detailed reasons. Failure to do so is a criminal offence.
“Get it wrong and the employee can remain in employment and/or bring a claim worth up to two years' remuneration or €40,000,” she states.