Germany: the Families Minister presents a draft law on equal pay

On Wednesday 10 December, Germany’s Families Minister, Manuela Schwesig presented the main contours of a draft law that should enable the gender gap in pay to narrow. In 2014 this gap was estimated at 21.6% in favor of males. Among the measures is a ban in employment contracts on including confidentiality clauses as regards salaries; something that displeases employers who have already requested that the draft law be halted. The draft law is only to apply to companies with more than 500 employees as well as federal administration bodies. The text is to be put to the Bundestag in May 2016.