Germany: government gives the green light to a controversial draft law on gender pay equality

In the future money will no longer be a taboo topic in German companies. On 11 January, following years of quarreling, Families Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) finally succeeded in getting the coalition government to adopt the draft law ‘that aims to promote transparent remuneration systems’ (Gesetz zur Förderung der Transparenz von Entgeltstruktur). This new ‘compromise’ law introduces the employee’s right to information on salaries in companies employing more than 200 staff. Companies with more than 500 staff will now be ‘encouraged’ to implement measures that ensure and monitor gender pay equality and they will also have to regularly publish a remuneration report. This draft law affecting some 14 million employees will now go before the Bundestag.