France Clarifies Sanctions for Violating Gender Pay Law 

A decree (French) clarifies the sanctions that apply when employers violate France’s recently effective gender pay law. The sanctions could be as high as 1% of the employer’s total monthly payroll and apply as soon as one month after the labor inspection office issues a formal notice — a longer grace period could be allowed depending on the nature of the employer’s error. Under the old law, employers had up to six months to respond to the inspection office’s notification.

Highlights

Companies with more than 1,000 employees became subject to the gender pay duty as of 1 Mar 2019. The law requires companies to report on their websites the score they receive on a gender pay index that comprises five gender-related criteria — the maximum score is 100. The new sanctions apply to all notices issued on or after 1 May 2019 and could be imposed on employers that: * Fail to publish their final score by the required deadline * Fail to take corrective measures if they have scored less

than 75 points * Fail to conclude a gender equality agreement with the organization’s trade union representatives or to publish an action plan, if applicable The law applies to smaller companies on the following dates:

• 1 Sep 2019 — companies with between 251 and 1,000 employees
• 1 Mar 2020 — companies with between 51 and 250 employee

Related Resources

Non-Mercer Resources

• Decree No 2019-382 (French) (Legifrance, 30 Apr 2019) Mercer Law & Policy Resources
• French Decree Details Gender Pay Methodology (8 Feb 2019)