Finnish employees may soon have the right to see colleagues’ salaries

The government has proposed this reform to close the gender pay gap

On 10 November, the European Union marked Equal Pay Day to remind men and women that more work needs to be done to achieve pay equality in Europe. More importantly, it marked the date on which men have officially earned as much as women will the entire year. Thus, it shines a light on the fact that women will, symbolically speaking, work for free until the end of 2021.

5 days following Equal Pay Day, the Finnish government proposed a controversial reform to the Equality Act with the aim of increasing the rights of employees to prevent gender-based pay discrimination.

Promoting wage transparency

To close the gender pay gap, the centre-left five-party coalition of Prime Minister Sanna Marin proposed to amend the Equality Act. With the reform, employers would have to report to staff annually, presenting the remuneration system they follow and how they have applied it.

Taking this further, employees would have the right to ask for and view the salaries of their co-workers if they suspect gender pay discrimination. Moreover, they would be entitled to find out the reasons behind the differences in salaries.

Nevertheless, the government reports that workers would still have a duty of confidentiality.

Criticism from unions

Not surprisingly, the proposed amendment to the Equality Act is extremely controversial. In fact, the group behind the proposal was not unanimous in its work. Beyond this, workers’ unions and some of Finland’s largest employers’ organisations have criticised the reform, believing that it may only cause more conflicts.

The proposal was submitted to the Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality Thomas Blomqvist on Monday, 15 November. Speaking to the news agency Reuters, the Minister revealed that he expects the bill to be passed in parliament before elections in the spring of 2023.