Gender Pay Gap Reporting

Hot on the heels of our UK & UK counterparts, Ireland is currently taking steps to introduce gender pay gap reporting in Ireland. What does this mean for businesses?

Gender pay gap reporting is a mechanism to identify the difference, if any, in pay rates between men and women in industry. A UK study started to return figures in the past twelve months with significant disparities identified. Some 80% of respondents confirmed that they pay males more than females in comparable roles. While this clearly identifies a major issue it also acts as a starting point to resolving what is one of the most basic equality issues in society.

While the approach that the UK has taken has been widely welcomed, it has received some criticism, mainly around the lack of enforcement. This honour system has been attributed to claims that up to 800 companies missed the original deadline, a number of organisations failed to submit reports at all in the

second year and that mathematically impossible figure being recorded by some companies.

In Ireland there are currently two gender pay gap bills going through the Oireachtas; a government bill from the Department of Justice and Equality which was submitted in April 2019; and a private members bill from Senator Ivana Bacik that has been under review since 2017. Senator Bacik’s Bill is currently at the eight stage of the Oireachtas and it outlines that reporting will take place for all organisations with more than 50 employees. They will be required to report on the difference between mean and median hourly pay rates between genders; mean and median bonus payments between genders; provide a breakdown on the issuance of bonuses; as well as the differences in upper and lower pay quartiles.

All of this is more or less in line with the UK model except in two key areas. The UK reporting started with organisations of over 250 employees with a scheduled plan to review smaller organisation in later implementation phases, and unlike the UK legislation, failure to comply could result penalties of up to a Class A fine (up to €5000).

The Department of Justice and Equality’s Bill follow much the same reporting guidelines as Senator Bacik’s however, it does take a similar stance to the UK in terms of the implementation phases of the roll out. The proposal is to start with large enterprises of more than 250 employees for the first two years, include companies with more than 150 employees in the third year, and finally organisations with 50 to 150 employees in the fourth year of reporting. One of the key differences in the Departments Bill to the Private Member Bill is that there will be mechanisms in both the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and Circuit Court to address non-compliance. The Bill allows for the establishment of a division of enforcement officers within the WRC. While there is no clear indication how this would be applied, it does leave scope for awards of up to €75,000 in line with the maximum award allowable at the Circuit Court.

While it’s hard to confirm which Bill will ultimately become legislation in line with EU requirements, organisations will need to prepare for this impending legislation one way or the other.

When there is greater clarity on this matter, ISME will release supporting documentation to Members, however if you have any immediate queries in relation to this or any other People Management issues please contact the Human Resource team on HR@ISME.ie or 01-66 22 7 55.