Activities of Annika BRUNA related to 2021/0050(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women (debate)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) The 2020 evaluation43 found that the implementation of the equal pay principle is hindered by a lack of transparency in pay systems, a lack of legal certainty on thembiguity regarding the often theoretical concept of ‘work of equal value’, and by procedural obstacles faced by victims of discrimination. Workers lack the necessary information to make a successful equal pay claim and in particular information about the pay levels for categories of workers who perform the same work or work of equal value. The report found that increased transparency would allow revealing gender bias and discrimination in the pay structures of an undertaking or organisation. It would also enable workers, employers and social partners to take appropriate action to enforce the right to equal pay. _________________ 43 SWD(2020)50. See also the 2013 Report on the implementation of Directive 2006/54/EC to the European Parliament and the Council, COM (2013)861 final.
Amendment 236 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) Article 10 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides that, in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall aim to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Article 4 of Directive 2006/54/EC provides that there shall be no direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of sex, notably in relation to pay. Gender- based pay discrimination where a victim’s sex plays a crucial role can take many different forms in practice. It may involve an intersection of various axes of discrimination or inequality where the worker is a member of one or several groups protected against discrimination on the basis of sex, on the one hand, and racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (as protected under Directive 2000/43/EC or Directive 2000/78/EC), on the other hand. Migrant women are among groups who face such multiple forms of discrimination. This directive should therefore clarify that, in the context of gender-based pay discrimination, such a combination should be taken into account, thus removing any doubt that may exist in this regard under the existing legal framework. This should ensure that the courts or other competent authorities take due account of any situation of disadvantage arising from intersectional discrimination, in particular for substantive and procedural purposes, including to recognise the existence of discrimination, to decide on the appropriate comparator, to assess the proportionality, and to determine, where relevant, the level of compensation awarded or penalties imposed.
Amendment 258 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) The identification of a valid comparator is an important parameter in determining whether work may be considered of equal value. It enables the worker to show that they were treated less favourably than the comparator of a different sex performing equal work or work of equal value. In situations where no real-life comparator exists, the use of a hypothetical comparator should be allowed, allowing a worker to show that they have not been treated in the same way as a hypothetical comparator of another sex would have been treated. This would lift an important obstacle for potential victims of gender pay discrimination, especially in highly gender-segregated employment markets where a requirement of finding a comparator of the opposite sex makes it almost impossible to bring an equal pay claim. In addition, workers should not be prevented from using other facts from which an alleged discrimination can be presumed, such as statistics or other available information. This would allow gender-based pay inequalities to be more effectively addressed in gender-segregated sectors and professions.
Amendment 280 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Job classification and evaluation systems may, if not used in a gender- neutral manner, in particular when they assume traditional gender stereotypes, result in gender-based pay discrimination. In such case, they contribute to and perpetuate the pay gap by evaluating male and female dominated jobs differently in situations where the worth of the work performed is of equal value. Where gender- neutral job evaluation and classification systems are used, however, they are effective in establishing a transparent pay system and are instrumental to ensure that direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of sex is excluded. They detect indirect pay discrimination related to the undervaluation of jobs typically done by women. They do so by measuring and comparing jobs whose content is different but of equal value and so support the principle of work of equal value.
Amendment 322 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) All workers should have the right to obtain information, upon their request, on their pay and on the pay level, broken down by sex, for the category of workers doing the same work or work of equal value. Employers must inform workers of this right on an annual basis. Employers may also, on their own initiative, opt for providing such information without workers needing to request it.
Amendment 346 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) To reduce the burden on employers, Member States could decide to gather and interlink the necessary data through their national administrations allowing for a computation of the pay gap between female and male workers per employer for equal work or work of equal value. Such data gathering may require interlinking data from several public administrations (such as tax inspectorates and social security offices) and would be possible if administrative data matching employers’ (company/organisational level) to workers’ (individual level) data, including benefits in cash and in-kind, are available. Member States could decide to gather this information not only for those employers covered by the pay reporting obligation under this Directive, but also with regard to small and medium-sized enterprises. The publication of the required information by Member States should replace the obligation of pay reporting on those employers covered by the administrative data provided that the result intended by the reporting obligation is achieved.
Amendment 352 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) In order to make the information on the pay gap between female and male workers for equal work or work of equal value at organisational level widely available, Member States should entrust the monitoring body designated pursuant to this Directive to aggregate the data on the pay gap received from employers without putting additional burden on the latter. The monitoring body should make these data public, allowing to compare the data of individual employers, sectors and regions of the Member State concerned.
Amendment 358 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29
Recital 29
(29) Joint pay assessments should trigger the review and revision of pay structures in organisations with at least 250 workers that show gender-based pay inequalities for equal work or work of equal value. The joint pay assessment should be carried out by employers in cooperation with workers’ representatives; if workers’ representatives are absent, they should be designated for this purpose. Joint pay assessments should lead to the elimination of gender discrimination in pay.
Amendment 376 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 31
Recital 31
(31) It is important that social partners discuss and give particular attention to matters of equal pay in collective bargaining. The different features of national social dialogue and collective bargaining systems across the Union and the autonomy and contractual freedom of social partners as well as their capacity as representatives of workers and employers should be respected. Therefore, Member States, in accordance with their national system and practices, should take appropriate measures, such as programmes supporting social partners, practical guidance as well as an active participation of the government in a social dialogue at national level. Such measures should encourage social partners to pay due attention to equal pay matters, including discussions at the appropriate level of collective bargaining and the development of gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems. National legislation, collective agreements and decisions taken within companies must, however, make provision for a job to be given exclusively to men or exclusively to women, based on certain criteria.
Amendment 399 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) Compensation should cover in full the loss and damage sustained as a result of gender pay discrimination54. It should include full recovery of back pay and related bonuses or payments in kind from the date of transposition of this directive into the national law of the Member State, compensation for lost opportunities and moral prejudice. No prior fixed upper limit for such compensation should be allowed. _________________ 54 Case C-407/14, María Auxiliadora Arjona Camacho v Securitas Seguridad España SA, ECLI:EU:C:2015:831, para. 45.
Amendment 422 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 41
Recital 41
(41) Litigation costs create a serious disincentive for victims of gender pay discrimination to claim their right to equal pay, leading to insufficient protection and enforcement of the right to equal pay. In order to remove this strong procedural obstacle to justice, successful claimants should be allowed to recover their procedural costs from the defendant. On the other hand, claimants should not be liable for successful defendant’s proceedings costs unless the claim was brought in bad faith, was clearly frivolous or if the non-recovery by the defendant would be considered unreasonable by the courts or other competent authorities under the specific circumstances of the case, for instance having regard to the financial situation of micro-enterprises. Successful defendants against a claim may be granted public compensation to cover all or part of their legal costs and experts’ fees if they have been unable to recover these costs from the claimants.
Amendment 688 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
Amendment 693 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point b
Amendment 700 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
Amendment 705 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point d
Amendment 738 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 3
Article 8 – paragraph 3
Amendment 771 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 6
Article 8 – paragraph 6
Amendment 908 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 3
Article 14 – paragraph 3
3. The compensation shall place the worker who has suffered harm in the position in which that person would have been if he or she had not been discriminated based on sex or if no infringement of any of the rights or obligations relating to equal pay between men and women for equal work or work of equal value had occurred. It shall include full recovery of back pay and related bonuses or payments in kind from the date on which this Directive is transposed into the national law of the Member State, compensation for lost opportunities and moral prejudice. It shall also include the right to interest on arrears.
Amendment 958 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 19 – paragraph 1
Article 19 – paragraph 1
Claimants who prevail on a pay discrimination claim shall have the right to recover from the defendant, in addition to any other damages, reasonable legal and experts’ fees and costs. Defendants who prevail on a pay discrimination claim shall not have the right to recover any legal and experts’ fees from the claimant(s) and costs, unless the claim was brought in bad faith, was clearly frivolous or where such non-recovery is considered manifestly unreasonable under the specific circumstances of the case. Defendants who prevail on a claim shall be entitled to public compensation to cover some or all of their legal and experts’ fees and costs if they have not been able to recover those fees and costs from the claimants.
Amendment 1028 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 26 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 26 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) to tackle the causes of the gender pay gap for equal work and equal skills and devise tools to help analyse and assess pay inequalities;