ELA EU Pay Directive
SWEDEN
Legislation Addressing the EU Pay Directive
Succinct summary of the legislation:
In January 2026, the Swedish Government submitted a legislative proposal to the Council on Legislation (the “Legislative Proposal”). According to the Legislative Proposal, the amendments were intended to enter into force on 1 July 2026. However, in March 2026, the Government stated that it did not intend to submit the Legislative Proposal to the Swedish Parliament for a formal vote. Instead, the Government advocated postponing the transposition deadline and renegotiating the relevant provisions of the Directive.
In June 2026, after it had become clear that the Directive would not be renegotiated, the Government instructed the Equality Ombudsman (Sw. Diskrimineringsombudsmannen) to continue its preparatory work on the implementation of the Directive in Sweden. The outcome of that work is to be presented no later than 1 November 2027. However, it remains unclear when a legislative proposal will be submitted to the Swedish Parliament for a formal vote.
Given the uncertain status of the implementation of the Directive in Sweden, it is difficult to predict how existing legislation will ultimately be amended. However, the following can be noted.
The requirements imposed by the Directive are significantly more extensive than those under current Swedish legislation. Accordingly, the amendments proposed in the Legislative Proposal to implement the Directive would create additional obligations for Swedish companies. Taken as a whole, however, those obligations do not appear to exceed what the Directive requires.
The above-mentioned obligations concern, for example, pay reporting and individual employees’ rights to information regarding various pay-related matters. In particular, the prohibition on asking candidates about their current pay during an interview will require many employers to adjust their interview questions, as this has been common practice.
The full text of the proposed legislative amendments set out in the Legislative Proposal is available here.
Application
Under local law, who are considered to be workers?
All employees employed by the relevant legal entity. Accordingly, consultants and agency personnel employed by another legal entity shall not be taken into consideration.
Has local legislation clarified what should be considered as "pay structures"?
No.
Has local legislation clarified how employers should categorise "work of equal value"?
Yes. Under the legislation currently in force, one work is regarded as equivalent to another where, following an overall evaluation of the requirements and nature of the work, it may be considered to be of equal value. When assessing the requirements of the work, aspects including knowledge and skills, responsibility, and effort should be taken into account. When evaluating the nature of the work, particular regard should be given to the relevant working conditions. These elements would continue to apply under the Legislative Proposal.
Recruitment and job applicants
What information must an employer provide to job applicants in relation to pay (i.e. what does "initial pay range" include – basic pay, bonus, family leave payments, pension, stock options, etc)?
The information shall include all forms of remuneration that constitute, directly or indirectly, compensation arising from the employment relationship. This includes basic salary, variable pay and other benefits, such as pension benefits
How and when must this information be provided?
There is no specific deadline for providing the information. Instead, it must be provided sufficiently in advance to enable the candidate to properly consider and protect his/her interests in the salary negotiations.
Does the salary history ban apply equally to internal candidates?
Yes.
Can employers' use salary history information already known to them when determining salaries for internal hires/ promotions?
Yes.
Does local law require that the job vacancy notices and job titles are gender neutral?
Yes.
Transparency of pay and pay progression policy
What information must an employer make available to workers about workers’ pay, pay levels and pay progression under local law?
The Legislative Proposal does not specify the exact information that must be provided. Instead, it states that employers should provide workers with information on the rules, practices and criteria used for pay-setting. This includes but is not limited to the employer’s general approach to remuneration, such as guidelines, salary-setting criteria and similar internal positions.
How should this information be provided?
It should be made publicly available in the workplace, for example on a notice board or via the intranet.
Has local law clarified what are the "objective and gender-neutral criteria" that should be used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression?
No.
Are there any exemptions based on headcount?
Yes, according to the Legislative Proposal, employers with fewer than 50 employees shall be exempted from the obligation to provide information on criteria relating to pay progression.
Individual rights to pay information
A worker is entitled to request and receive information on:
- their individual pay level; and
- the average pay levels broken down by sex for workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs
What is considered to be "pay" for the purpose of this provision?
All remunerations which are, either directly or indirectly, compensation arising as a result of the employment, are considered as “pay”.
Can any pay components be excluded for the purposes of calculating gross hourly pay (for example, can voluntary benefits, stock options or "pay" components that do not appear on a payslip be excluded?)
No, not if they constitute compensation arising as a result of the employment.
Within what period of time must the information be provided?
The information must be provided as soon as possible, but no later than two months from the date on which the employer received the request
How should this information be provided?
The information must be provided in writing.
Are there any exemptions based on headcount?
No.
Is a worker entitled to request this information individually and/or through workers representatives and/or through an equality body?
The information may be requested directly by the individual concerned, through a trade union representative or through the Equality Ombudsman
What rights does a worker have where the information is alleged to be inaccurate or incomplete?
If the information is incorrect or incomplete, the employer must provide the employee with correct and complete information as soon as possible. At the employee’s request, the employer must also provide an explanation for the omissions as soon as possible.
Does an employer need to inform workers of their entitlement to request this information?
Yes, on an annual basis.
Does local law require that employers provide this information in the local language, or can it be provided in English?
The Legislative Proposal does not include any provisions specifying the language in which the information must be provided. Generally, if nothing is stated in law, it is sufficient to provide information in English as long as it is confirmed that all recipients fully understand the information provided. Consequently, the employer will bear the risk if information is only provided in English and not in Swedish.
Prohibitions on workers disclosing pay information
Contractual clauses that prevent employees from disclosing information about their pay are prohibited under the Directive.
Can employers impose any restrictions on workers to prevent them from disclosing their own pay, and/or average pay information obtained pursuant to an information request?
An employer may not prohibit an employee from sharing information about his/her own salary. However, according to the Legislative Proposal, an employer may request that the employee does not use the information on average pay, or an explanation of any discrepancies in the information on average pay, for any purpose other than exercising the employee’s right to equal pay for equal or equivalent work.
If existing contracts contain pay secrecy clauses, what actions (if any) are required to bring those contracts into compliance (e.g., must such clauses be formally rescinded or is the existing pay secrecy clause simply unenforceable)?
Existing pay secrecy clauses will be unenforceable, but must not be formally revoked.
Gender pay gap reporting
Are the pay gap reporting deadlines the same as those set out in the Directive?
The Legislative Proposal states that the pay report shall be submitted no later than 20 May but the frequency of the submittal of salary reports depends on the number of employees of the companies as stipulated below:
o 100–249 employees: every third year; and
o 250 or more employees: every year.
Companies with 150 or more employees shall, according to the Legislative Proposal, submit the first salary report as of 2027 while those with 100–149 employees shall submit the first salary report as of 2031.
Please confirm what gender pay gap information employers must provide under local law (and include detail on headcount thresholds).
An employer who has 100 or more employees is obligated to submit a pay report including the following information:
- Differences in average pay between women and men;
- differences in average pay between women and men in respect of pay supplements or variable remuneration;
- median pay differences between women and men;
- median pay differences between women and men in respect of pay supplements or variable remuneration;
- the proportion of women and men, respectively, who receive pay supplements or variable remuneration;
- the proportion of women and men, respectively, in each pay quartile; and
- differences between women and men performing work that is to be regarded as the same or of equal value, in respect of average pay, average pay in terms of ordinary basic salary, and average pay in terms of pay supplements or variable remuneration.
Does local law specify a uniform reference or “snapshot” date for assessing headcount or pay data for reporting purposes?
The number of employees shall be calculated by reference to the number of employees as at the beginning of the relevant calendar year, i.e., in January. The pay data shall concern the previous calendar year.
What pay information (if any) is an employer required to publish and where does it need to be published (i.e. on its website).
INSERT ANSWER
Is an employer required to provide the information to an authority and if so when?
No certain information must be published publicly by the employer.
Is there any information as to how information held by authorities will be published (i.e. will individual employers be named in annual reports or will published gender pay gap information be sector specific and anonymise employers)?
The pay report must be submitted to the Equality Ombudsman. The method of submission has not yet been confirmed, although it is expected that the report will most likely be submitted digitally.
Following submission, certain data will be made publicly available by the Equality Ombudsman. However, information on differences in average pay between women and men performing work that is to be regarded as equal or of equal value will not be made publicly available.
The information that is made available by the Equality Ombudsman will be broken down by employer, industry and municipality, and will cover information from pay reports submitted during the current year and the preceding four years.
In other words, the legal starting point is that information relating to specific employees will not be made publicly available.
Does local law specify how employers should consider employees that choose not to identify with a particular gender?
No.
National Workforce Thresholds
Does national law apply different workforce thresholds than those set out in the Directive (100/150/250 employees) for any pay transparency or reporting obligations?
No.
Are there any sector-specific or size-specific exemptions or adjusted requirements?
No.
Dealing with Gaps & Joint Pay Assessments
Where gender pay differences are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, in what timescale must an employer remedy the situation?
There is no specific timeframe stipulated in the Legislative Proposal. Instead, the employer is required to correct the issue as soon as reasonably practicable which corresponds to current legislation.
Does local law specify how an employer should remedy the situation?
No, it is for the employer to determine what measures are appropriate to remedy the breach.
How must an employer work in close cooperation with workers’ representatives, the labour inspectorate and/or the equality body in remedying the situation?
There is no specific prescribed level or method of cooperation required of the parties. The scope and structure of their cooperation are instead matters for the parties to determine.
Does local law define ‘close cooperation’ – is it just in consultation with, or must there be agreement?
No, the Legislative Proposal does not define “close cooperation”. Whether the parties must merely be consulted, or must reach agreement, will depend on the circumstances at hand.
In what circumstances does local law require an employer to conduct a joint pay assessment?
The Legislative Proposal includes a general obligation for all employers to conduct a joint pay assessment in collaboration with the workers’ representatives. However, it is up to the parties to determine how and when such cooperation should be carried out.
What information must be included in the joint pay assessment?
The employer is generally required to provide the information necessary to facilitate effective cooperation and to ensure that the workers’ representatives have sufficient insight into the assessment.
To whom must an employer make the joint assessment available?
An employer that is required to submit the most recently prepared written pay analysis (which includes the joint pay assessment) and the report concerning pay progression in connection with certain types of leave to the Swedish Equality Ombudsman must also make information on, inter alia, the joint pay assessment available to the employees within the same period.
Data Protection
Where the provision of information would lead to the disclosure of the pay of an identifiable worker, does local law limit access to the relevant information and if so, how?
No.
Breach of pay transparency and pay gap reporting requirements
What sanctions, penalties or other measures may be imposed on an employer in the event of breach of gender pay reporting or pay transparency requirements under local law?
Depending on the nature of the breach, various legal consequences may apply, including injunctions (potentially coupled with penalties), financial damages, compensation for the infringement itself, and sanction fees.
Rights to equal pay – rights of action
What rights of action under local law are available to a worker as a result of any alleged infringement of the right to equal pay?
The worker may bring a discrimination claim before the courts, either individually or with representation by their trade union. If the claim is successful, the worker’s primary remedy would be damages, including compensation for any financial loss suffered and for the infringement itself.
Workers Representatives
How does local law define ‘workers’ representatives?
A worker’s representative is a person appointed by a trade union to act as a representative for employees in matters concerning the relationship with the employer or other matters connected with trade union activities.
If the employer does not have any workers’ representatives, what are its obligations in relation to the provisions of the Directive referring to workers' representatives?
The Legislative Proposal does not include any specific provisions addressing this situation. However, under other general provisions, an employer is also required to cooperate with employees in relation to active measures concerning, among other things, gender pay gaps.
What rights do workers' representatives have?
The rights have been designed in accordance with the Directive. Compared with the current legislation, the Legislative Proposal does not significantly extend the rights of workers’ representatives and, overall, the legislative position remains unchanged.
If workers’ representatives have not been engaged in the right way and/or in a timely fashion, what are the consequences under local law?
According to the Legislative Proposal, central trade unions with which the employer is bound by a collective agreement shall be able to submit an application for an injunction subject to a penalty to the Board Against Discrimination (without the Equality Ombudsman first having declared that it does not wish to submit an application of its own).
What obligations exist in relation to workers’ representatives’ rights to be consulted on pay gap information and access to the relevant methodologies applied?
All trade unions are entitled to request consultation on measures relating to the conduct of the pay gap analysis where those measures concern one of their members. The trade unions do not have any veto rights in relation to the process. Accordingly, once the consultations have taken place, the employer remains free to make such decision as it considers appropriate.
Where the consultations referred to above concern a member of a trade union that is party to an applicable collective bargaining agreement, the starting point is that such consultations should take place before the company makes any decision relating to the matter. In addition, where a company bound by a collective bargaining agreement proposes to make any material change to the business relating to pay transparency, it must consult with the contracting trade union(s) before any final decision about the matter is taken.
What rights of action are available to a worker or workers’ representatives in event of breach of gender pay reporting or pay transparency requirements under local law?
The remedies available depend on the type of breach. In the event of actual discrimination or if the employer breaches its obligations to provide certain information related to pay transparency obligations, the individual, either acting alone or represented by the union, could bring a legal claim seeking damages, including compensation for both economic loss and the infringement itself.
In addition, as mentioned under (d), the representative could apply for an injunction subject to a penalty. Further, given the importance of trade union relations in Sweden, failure to comply with the applicable requirements could also damage the employer’s relationship with the unions. This is particularly important where the employer is bound by a collective bargaining agreement.
Member State Support
What support in terms of technical or other assistance and training has been provided, or is promised, for employers?
According to the Legislative Proposal, the only current or planned assistance for employers is the provision of a service through which they may submit the salary report.
Is this available to all employers or, for example, are there headcount limits?
Only employers that are required to submit salary reports will use the service.
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