Pay transparency rules in Austria
No. Austria has not yet turned the EU Pay Transparency Directive into national law. It missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline, and as of 30 June 2026 there is not even a published draft bill. The directive's rules are not yet legally binding in Austria, but the obligations are known and a national law is expected, so employers should prepare now.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is a European law designed to close the gender pay gap by making pay open and comparable. It gives job applicants the right to know the pay or pay range before interview, bans employers from asking about salary history, and gives current staff the right to ask what others doing equal work are paid, broken down by sex. Larger employers must report their gender pay gap, and where an unexplained gap of 5% or more shows up, they must carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. EU countries had until 7 June 2026 to write these rules into their own national law. Austria has not yet done so, so the exact Austrian wording, thresholds and penalties are not yet fixed. The figures below are the directive's defaults, which Austria's law is expected to follow.
Where Austria stands today
Austria has not transposed the directive and has no published draft bill as of 30 June 2026.
Austria missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline to write the Pay Transparency Directive into national law. As of 30 June 2026 the government has not even published a consultation draft (Begutachtungsentwurf), and Austrian advisers such as the WKO (Chamber of Commerce) and KPMG Austria confirm no draft exists yet. The law is widely expected to be delivered as an amendment to the Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz), and a draft was anticipated in spring 2026 but has not appeared. Until a law is passed and in force, the directive's new rights and duties are not directly enforceable against private employers in Austria. Austria already has some related rules: employers must state the minimum pay (collective-agreement minimum) in job adverts, and large employers file periodic income reports (Einkommensberichte) under existing equal-treatment law. The directive will go further once transposed.
What will change for employers
Pay must become open and comparable: ranges in hiring, no salary-history questions, and a right for staff to see comparative pay.
Once Austria transposes the directive, an employer will have to: (1) tell job applicants the starting pay or pay range before the interview, and not ask candidates about their current or past pay; (2) make sure job adverts and titles are gender-neutral; (3) give current employees, on request, written information within two months about their own pay and the average pay levels for workers doing the same or equivalent work, broken down by sex; and (4) base pay and progression on objective, gender-neutral criteria. Employees cannot be stopped by contract from discussing their own pay. These are the directive's minimum standards; Austria may add detail (for example how 'equivalent work' is defined and how information requests are handled in practice).
Reporting and joint pay assessment
Larger employers must report their gender pay gap; an unexplained gap of 5% or more triggers a joint pay assessment.
Under the directive's default timetable, employers with 250 or more employees report their gender pay gap every year, with the first report due by 7 June 2027. Employers with 150 to 249 employees report every three years, first report due by 7 June 2027. Employers with 100 to 149 employees report every three years, with their first report due by 7 June 2031. Employers below 100 employees are not required to report under the directive (though a member state may go further). Where a pay report shows a gap of at least 5% in any category of worker that cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral factors and is not corrected within six months, the employer must carry out a 'joint pay assessment' together with worker representatives. Austria's eventual law will set the exact thresholds, the reporting body and any local detail, so confirm these once the national bill is published.
Penalties and enforcement
Penalties will be set by Austria's transposing law and are not yet known; the directive requires them to be effective and dissuasive.
The directive requires member states to set penalties that are 'effective, proportionate and dissuasive', and to shift the burden of proof to the employer in equal-pay disputes, with compensation (including back pay) for workers who were underpaid. Because Austria has not yet passed its law, the specific Austrian fines and sanctions are not yet defined. Expect them to attach to the existing Equal Treatment / equality enforcement framework (for example the Equal Treatment Commission and Ombud for Equal Treatment). Treat any penalty figure as unconfirmed until the Austrian instrument is published.
How this works when Teamed is the Employer of Record
As the legal employer in Austria, the Employer of Record carries these statutory duties for you.
When Teamed acts as your Employer of Record (EOR), Teamed is the legal employer of the worker in Austria, so the statutory pay-transparency duties fall on Teamed once the law is in force. In practice that means Teamed handles the compliant employment contract, the pre-interview pay-range disclosure, the no-salary-history rule, and responses to employees' pay-information requests, drawing on the applicable Austrian collective agreement and gender-neutral pay criteria. Gender pay-gap reporting thresholds count the employees of the legal employer, so how the numbers are counted across an EOR arrangement is something to confirm once Austria's law defines it. Teamed will track the Austrian bill as it moves through consultation and parliament and apply the final rules on your behalf, so your hire stays compliant without you needing to follow Austrian legislative detail yourself.
At a glance
| Pay shown in job ads | Proposed (not yet in national law; AT already requires minimum pay in ads) |
|---|---|
| Salary-history question banned | Proposed (directive default; not yet Austrian law) |
| Gender pay-gap reporting from | 100+ employees (directive default; not yet enacted) |
| First report due | 7 Jun 2027 for 150+; 7 Jun 2031 for 100-149 (directive default) |
| Penalties | Unknown (to be set by Austria's transposing law) |
Key figures
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Transposition status | Not transposed; no draft bill published as of 30 June 2026 (source) |
| EU transposition deadline | 7 June 2026 (missed by Austria) (source) |
| Expected vehicle | Amendment to the Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz); draft expected spring 2026, not yet published (source) |
| Pay range before interview | Applicants must be told initial pay or pay range; not yet binding in Austria (source) |
| Salary history ban | Employers may not ask applicants about pay history; directive default, not yet in Austrian law (source) |
| Right to pay information | Workers can request written pay information within two months (source) |
| Reporting thresholds and cadence | 250+ annually; 150-249 every 3 years; 100-149 every 3 years (source) |
| First report due | 7 June 2027 (250+ and 150-249); 7 June 2031 (100-149) (source) |
| Joint pay assessment trigger | Unexplained gender pay gap of at least 5% not corrected within 6 months (source) |
| Penalties | Not yet defined; to be set by Austria's transposing law (directive requires effective, proportionate, dissuasive) (source) |
Frequently asked questions
Has Austria implemented the EU Pay Transparency Directive?
No. As of 30 June 2026 Austria has not transposed the directive and has not even published a draft bill. It missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline. A national law, expected to amend the Equal Treatment Act, is still awaited.
Do the new pay transparency rules apply to my Austrian staff right now?
Not yet as directive-specific rules. Until Austria passes its transposing law, the directive's new rights (pay ranges before interview, salary-history ban, pay-information requests) are not directly enforceable against private employers. Existing Austrian rules, such as stating minimum pay in job adverts, still apply.
When will employers in Austria have to report their gender pay gap?
The directive's default timetable has employers with 250+ staff and 150-249 staff filing a first report by 7 June 2027, and employers with 100-149 staff by 7 June 2031. The exact Austrian dates and thresholds will be confirmed when the national law is published.
What triggers a joint pay assessment?
Under the directive, an unexplained gender pay gap of at least 5% in a category of workers that the employer does not correct within six months triggers a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. Austria's law will set the final wording.
If Teamed is the Employer of Record, who is responsible for compliance?
Teamed is the legal employer in Austria and carries the statutory pay-transparency duties for you once the law is in force, including compliant contracts, pre-interview pay ranges, the salary-history ban and pay-information responses. Teamed tracks the Austrian bill and applies the final rules on your behalf.
Pay transparency is moving at different speeds across the EU. When Teamed is your legal employer in Austria, these duties sit with us: compliant pay ranges, the salary-history rule, employee pay-information requests, and reporting where it applies. We track the law as it changes so your hiring stays compliant.
