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Photo source: unsplash.com / Romain Dancre
Less than a month separates Croatia from the 7 June 2026 deadline for transposing Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. The Directive brings concrete new rights for workers and new obligations for employers regardless of size: mandatory publication of the salary range in job ads, a ban on questions about previous salaries, the worker’s right to data on average pay levels by gender, and a shift of the burden of proof onto the employer. It is often forgotten that employers with fewer than 100 employees — as many as 97.7% of Croatian companies — also have substantive obligations, only without formal reporting.
Croatia has not yet adopted the implementing act. If the deadline is missed, certain provisions of the Directive will apply directly under the principle of direct effect. Below is an overview of all key provisions, with a particular focus on distinguishing obligations by employer size, with concrete examples and an action plan you can apply immediately — compiled from the practice of the law office of Toni Primorac, which advises employers throughout Croatia on work rules, job classification and employment disputes.
Summary: what you need to know in 60 seconds
- Transposition deadline: 7 June 2026
- Obligations applying to ALL employers (even those with 1 employee): gender-neutral pay criteria, salary range in the ad/before the interview, ban on questions about previous salaries, workers’ right to information, ban on pay secrecy clauses, protection from retaliation
- Reporting applies only to 100+ employees: 250+ annually from 2027, 150–249 every 3 years from 2027, 100–149 every 3 years from 2031
- A pay gap ≥ 5% that the employer cannot justify and does not correct within 6 months → mandatory joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives
- The burden of proof shifts to the employer if it has not met its transparency obligations — dangerous for all employers, regardless of size
- Sanctions: fines, exclusion from public procurement, retroactive payment of the pay difference 3–5 years back with interest
1. What the Directive brings to workers — four key rights
The right to the salary range before the interview (Art. 5)
The employer must give the candidate access to information on the starting salary or salary range for the position, determined on the basis of objective and gender-neutral criteria. The information is provided in the job ad or at the latest before the interview. The practice of “we discuss the salary range at later stages” becomes legally unacceptable.
Ban on questions about previous salaries (Art. 5(2))
The employer may not ask the candidate what they earned with a previous employer, nor attempt to obtain that information in any other way. This breaks the transfer of gender pay gaps from one employment to the next.
The right to information on average pay levels (Art. 7)
Every worker has the right, upon written request, to receive data on their own pay level and the average pay levels broken down by gender for the category of workers performing the same work or work of equal value. The employer must respond within two months.
Shifting the burden of proof to the employer (Art. 18)
If the employer has not met its transparency obligations (did not publish the range, did not respond to a request, has no documented pay policy), the burden of proof in an equal-pay dispute shifts to the employer. In practice this means the worker only has to make discrimination plausible, while the employer must prove there was none.
IMPORTANT: If you suspect your pay is lower than colleagues of the same rank because of your gender, submit a written request to your employer for information on average pay levels — the request preserves evidence and opens the possibility of shifting the burden of proof if the employer fails to respond in time.
2. Obligations applying to ALL employers — regardless of headcount
This is the part most often forgotten: the Directive prescribes five fundamental substantive obligations applying to all employers — whether micro, small, medium or large. The exemption applies exclusively to formal reporting on the pay gap, not to the substantive obligations themselves.
(1) A gender-neutral job classification system
Every employer must have a pay structure enabling comparison of the value of jobs on the basis of four objective criteria: skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. In practice this means reviewing the work rules and the job classification act. The Directive does not require complex point systems — it requires a documented and consistently applied logic of “why person A earns more than person B”.
(2) Salary range in the ad and gender-neutral job titles
Job ads must be gender-neutral, the recruitment procedure non-discriminatory, and the salary range available to the candidate before the interview.
(3) The right to information and the ban on pay secrecy clauses
Clauses in employment contracts that prohibit workers from disclosing their own pay for the purpose of exercising the right to equal pay become null and void. Any written request by a worker for pay level data must be processed within 2 months.
(4) Protection of workers from retaliation
Dismissal, transfer to a worse position or any sanction against a worker for exercising pay transparency rights is expressly prohibited. This is particularly sensitive in small companies where relationships are often personal — and where a worker’s request is easily perceived as “disloyalty”.
(5) Shifting the burden of proof in disputes
See above — this is the procedural mechanism that gives force to the substantive rights and applies to all employers.
3. Especially for small employers (< 100 employees) — 97.7% of Croatian companies
This is the most important section for most Croatian employers. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics data for Q3 2025, the structure of active legal entities in Croatia is as follows: 39.7% with no employees, 50.1% with 1–9 employees, 7.9% with 10–49 employees, 2.0% with 50–249 employees and only 0.4% with 250 or more. In other words — 97.7% of Croatian companies have fewer than 50 employees, and the vast majority are below the threshold of 100 separating the exempt from those obliged to report.
What small employers do NOT have to do
- they are not required to formally report on the pay gap to the competent authorities and the public
- they are not required to calculate averages and medians of the gap, percentages by quartiles, or supplementary pay components
- they are not required to have sophisticated job evaluation point systems (but they must have a logical, non-discriminatory basis for pay differences)
What small employers MUST do — regardless of headcount
- have a gender-neutral pay structure they can explain with documentation
- publish the salary range in job ads or provide it before the interview
- they may not ask candidates about previous salaries
- remove pay secrecy clauses from existing employment contracts and templates
- respond to a worker’s written request for pay level data within 2 months
- protect workers from retaliation
IMPORTANT: The myth “we are a small company, the Directive does not concern us” is dangerous. It is true that you do not have to report — it is not true that you have no obligations. The greatest risk for small employers is precisely the shifting of the burden of proof: if you do not document your pay criteria, in every future dispute you will have to prove the absence of discrimination without written evidence to support it.
A strategic opportunity for small employers
Small employers who proactively align their practices before June 2026 gain several concrete advantages: quick preparation for growth (when a company exceeds 100 employees, it automatically enters the reporting category), reduced legal risk in any future employment dispute, a competitive advantage on the labour market — younger candidates explicitly seek employers who publish salary ranges up front, and a reputational signal to clients and partners who increasingly look at ESG/DEI indicators.
4. Large employers (100+) — phased introduction of reporting
If your company employs 100 or more workers, you are subject to formal pay gap reporting. The dates of the first mandatory publication differ by size:
- 250 and more workers — annual reporting, first by 7 June 2027
- 150–249 workers — every 3 years, first by 7 June 2027
- 100–149 workers — every 3 years, first by 7 June 2031
The report must include: the gap in average gross hourly pay between men and women, the median gap, the gap in supplementary pay components, the percentage of men and women receiving supplementary components, and the percentage of men and women in each pay quartile.
5. The 5% rule and the joint pay assessment
If reporting shows a gap of at least 5% in any category of workers that the employer cannot objectively justify and does not correct within six months, it must carry out a joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives — a structured analysis of the causes of the gap with mandatory corrective measures.
EXAMPLE: An employer with 180 employees finds that in the “project manager” category the average salary of men is EUR 2,200 and of women EUR 2,050 — a gap of 6.8%. If it cannot objectively justify it (different experience, performance, managerial responsibility) and does not correct it within six months, it must carry out a joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives.
6. Sanctions and consequences of non-compliance
Member States must prescribe effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. The specific Croatian penalties are yet to come with the implementing act, but the Directive (Art. 23) foresees several layers of liability:
- Fines for breaching transparency obligations
- Exclusion from public procurement — non-compliant entities can lose access to public contracts
- Retroactive payment of the pay difference — 3 to 5 years back, with statutory interest, where discrimination is established
- Reputational damage — information about discriminatory practices spreads quickly in the digital environment
NOTE: Failing to meet transparency obligations is not merely an administrative lapse — it automatically shifts the burden of proof in every future pay discrimination lawsuit. That is the most dangerous legal consequence for an employer and the reason formal compliance is not optional.
7. Action plan by employer size
Small employer (< 100 employees) — 7 steps
- Review employment contracts — remove pay secrecy clauses
- Review work rules and job classification — introduce gender-neutral criteria
- Update job ad templates — salary range, gender-neutral title
- Train recruitment staff — ban on questions about previous salaries
- Prepare a response template for workers’ written requests for pay level information
- Voluntary internal pay gap analysis — at least once a year, as protection against future disputes
- Document every pay decision — an employer with written evidence has a far better defence in a dispute
Medium employer (100–249) — additionally
- Prepare a pay gap calculation methodology by quartiles and components
- Check whether you reach the threshold of 150 or 250 workers — it determines the reporting frequency
- Run an internal trial report before June 2027
Large employer (250+) — additionally
- Define an annual reporting cycle and responsible persons (HR, legal, finance)
- Prepare a joint pay assessment procedure in case a gap ≥ 5% appears
- Consider an independent consultant for the first analysis — worth having before the state reports on you
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about pay transparency
EU Member States, including Croatia, must transpose Directive (EU) 2023/970 into national law by 7 June 2026. If Croatia misses the deadline, the provisions of the Directive that are sufficiently precise and unconditional will apply directly under the principle of direct effect.
No. The formal reporting obligation applies only to employers with 100 or more workers. However, all other obligations — a gender-neutral pay structure, the salary range in job ads, the ban on questions about previous salaries, the worker’s right to information, the ban on pay secrecy clauses — apply regardless of size.
Yes. Contractual provisions prohibiting workers from disclosing their own pay for the purpose of exercising the right to equal pay are expressly prohibited, and such clauses are null and void.
Silence or refusal triggers the mechanism of shifting the burden of proof in later court proceedings — the employer must prove the absence of discrimination, not the worker its existence. The response deadline is 2 months.
Yes. The employer must give the candidate access to information on the starting salary or salary range — in the job ad or at the latest before the interview. “Salary negotiable” will no longer suffice.
A pay gap of at least 5% in any category of workers that the employer cannot objectively justify (different levels of experience, performance, responsibility) and does not correct within 6 months triggers the obligation of a joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives.
No. The Directive expressly prohibits asking about a candidate’s previous salaries, as well as attempts to obtain that information in other ways (references, public databases, informal channels). This breaks the transfer of gender pay gaps from one job to the next.
Member States must prescribe fines. A particularly heavy blow is exclusion from public procurement, retroactive payment of the pay difference 3–5 years back with interest, and reputational damage. In any court dispute, the burden of proof shifts if the employer has not met its transparency obligations.
Yes, almost every employer needs a review. The Directive requires a gender-neutral job classification system based on 4 objective criteria (skills, effort, responsibility, working conditions). In most Croatian internal acts these criteria are either insufficient or informal.
Look for a firm with proven experience in employment law and drafting work rules / job classification — not only in disputes. The ideal profile combines an employment-law review, the design of objective pay criteria and preparation for potential discrimination claims. The law office of Toni Primorac in Rijeka specialises in precisely this kind of compliance and advises employers throughout Croatia — in English as well.
Conclusion: those who start now arrive prepared
Directive (EU) 2023/970 changes the rules of the game on the Croatian labour market. Workers gain four concrete weapons — the range in the ad, the ban on questions about their old salary, the right to data, and the shifted burden of proof. Employers get a structural task — to establish a gender-neutral classification system, prepare for reporting (if above the 100 threshold) and take the 5% threshold seriously. Small employers carry the greatest risk precisely through the shifting of the burden of proof — without documented pay criteria, every future dispute already starts with a presumption of discrimination.
Less than a month remains until the deadline. Those who start reviewing their work rules, job classification and contracts now — arrive prepared. Those who wait for the Croatian implementing act — arrive too late.
About the author — the law office of Toni Primorac
Attorney Toni Primorac heads the law office of Toni Primorac based in Rijeka, specialising in employment law, EU law, drafting work rules and job classifications, pay transparency, anti-discrimination law and representation in employment disputes. The office advises employers throughout Croatia in the IT, construction, hospitality, tourism, manufacturing and services sectors.
The team regularly follows the development of EU employment directives (2008/104/EC on temporary agency work, 2019/1158 on work-life balance, 2023/970 on pay transparency, 2024/1500 on platform work) and their impact on the practice of Croatian employers.
Need legal support for compliance with Directive (EU) 2023/970?
Whether you are a micro business with 5 employees or a corporation with 500 — the Directive means concrete obligations for you. Primorac Legal assists employers with:
- reviewing work rules and job classifications against gender-neutral criteria
- an internal gender pay gap audit before mandatory reporting
- removing pay secrecy clauses from existing employment contracts
- drafting templates for job ads, contracts and responses to workers’ requests
- joint pay assessments and corrective plans
- representation in employment disputes and discrimination proceedings
- training HR and management on the practical application of the Directive
Our office is at your disposal for a detailed analysis of your specific situation and preparation of all necessary documentation. Contact us with confidence — we will assess your case and propose the optimal approach.
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