Finland will miss EU deadline for pay transparency law, minister confirms

Finland will fail to meet the 7 June EU deadline for implementing the pay transparency directive, Social Affairs Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (National Coalition Party) has confirmed to national broadcaster Yle.

While the minister stated the legislative proposal is “nearly complete,” parliamentary processing will delay its adoption. “We certainly won’t meet the summer timeline due to parliamentary procedures,” Grahn-Laasonen said, adding that other EU member states are also facing delays.

The directive, approved by the EU in 2023, aims to combat gender-based pay discrimination by requiring employers to disclose pay gap data and provide salary information to job applicants early in the hiring process. Under the Finnish government’s draft, large companies would be obligated to report gender pay gap statistics, while employees would gain stronger rights to access salary benchmarks for comparable roles.

Preparations for the law have been contentious. A tripartite working group with labour market representatives remained deeply divided, with Grahn-Laasonen citing “highly conflicting views” as a key reason for the delay. The draft was revised following employer feedback, including narrowing the scope of obligations and removing a definition of “work of equal value”—a change criticised by Finland’s Equality Ombudsman.

Asked whether the concept of equal-value work would now be enshrined in law, Grahn-Laasonen avoided a direct answer but stressed that Finland remains committed to fully implementing the directive. “This is mandatory for member states,” she said, expressing hope the proposal would advance to parliament as soon as possible.