Professional Equality Index: publication by the end of February

Companies with at least 50 employees are required to publish their professional equality index each year. A tool to measure and eliminate the gender pay gap.

This index, presented in the form of an overall score out of 100 points, is calculated on the basis of various indicators (pay gap between women and men, difference in the rate of individual salary increases, number of employees of the under-represented sex among the 10 employees who received the highest salaries, etc.). The calculation of each indicator, according to a method defined by decree, results in a number of points whose addition gives the overall score of the company.

The index and the score obtained for each indicator for the year 2022 must be published, no later than March 1st, 2023, in a visible and legible manner, on the company’s website. In the absence of a website, this information is brought to the attention of employees by any means (posting, email, etc.).

Additional publications for some companies

The company whose index is less than 75 points out of 100 has 3 years to remedy this situation. To this end, it must implement corrective and, where appropriate, wage catch-up measures via a collective agreement or, after consulting the Social and Economic Committee (CSE(1)), the employer’s unilateral decision.

The company must bring these measures to the attention of employees by any means and publish them on its website (on the same page as the index). This information must be searchable until the company obtains an index of at least 75 points.

In addition, when its index is less than 85 points out of 100, the company must, via a collective agreement or, after consulting the CSE, the employer’s unilateral decision, set progress targets for each indicator for which the maximum score has not been reached. These objectives must be published on the company’s website (on the same page as the index) or, in the absence of a website, be brought to the attention of employees by any means. These objectives must be searchable until the company obtains an index of at least 85 points.

The corrective and catch-up measures as well as the progress objectives must be published after the collective agreement or the employer’s unilateral decision has been submitted to the DREETS(2) (Regional Directorate for the Economy, Employment, Labour and Solidarity).

Important: The indicators, the overall score and, where applicable, the corrective and catch-up measures and the progress objectives of each of the indicators as well as their publication procedures (link to the website, for example) must be made available to the CSE in the database dedicated to economic, social and environmental matters and transmitted to the Ministry of Labour.

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