On 24 August 2020 Parliament passed the Equal Pay Law for Male and Female Workers (Amendment 6) (5780-2020), which aims to prevent discrimination based on sex with respect to salary and other work-related benefits. The law is based on the presumption that female and male workers employed at the same workplace should receive equal pay for the same work or for substantially similar work and provides another tool to remedy the gender pay gap.

Amendment 6's explanatory notes explain that at present the law is not applied often and women are not bringing legal action thereunder claiming inequality between themselves and their male colleagues. One of the main reasons for this is that the law requires female workers to initiate action, usually during the time of their employment, and approach their employer for their colleagues' salary information to file a claim with the labour court. Amendment 6 provides another avenue to assist female workers in exercising their rights to equal pay.

Amendment 6 applies to:

  • employers that have more than 518 workers; or
  • employers that must abide by reporting requirements regarding their employees' and officeholders' salaries.(1)

Once a year, employers must complete and publish (including on their website) a report which:

  • specifies (but not identifies) their employees' average salary, broken down by gender, position and ranking; and
  • sets out the average percentage pay gap between men and women for every group of workers in the workplace.

The amendment will take effect on 25 October 2020 and the first report thereunder must be published by 1 June 2022.

Endnotes

(1) These include:

  • budgeted or supported entities in accordance with Section 33 of the Budget Fundamentals Law (5745-1885);
  • registered non-profit organisations in accordance with Section 36(b) of the Non-profit Societies Law (5740-1980);
  • corporations whose securities have been issued to the public according to a prospectus or are traded on the stock exchange in accordance with Sections 2(a) and 21 of the Securities (Periodic and Immediate Reports) Regulations (5730-1970); and
  • water and sewerage corporations to which the Water and Sewerage Corporations (Periodic and Immediate Reports) Rules (5770-2010) apply.