Greece has introduced new pay transparency legislation designed to strengthen equal pay and provide employees and job applicants with greater visibility over how remuneration is determined.
Law 5316/2026, published on 6 July 2026, transposes the EU Pay Transparency Directive into Greek law and introduces new requirements around recruitment, access to pay information, gender pay reporting and the assessment of pay differences.
For organisations operating in Greece, the legislation represents an important shift towards greater accountability. HR, payroll and reward teams will increasingly need to demonstrate that remuneration decisions are based on objective, gender neutral criteria and supported by reliable workforce data.
The new requirements begin before an employee joins an organisation.
Job applicants will have the right to receive information about the initial salary or salary range for a position, based on objective and gender-neutral criteria. Recruitment processes must also support equal pay principles, including the use of gender-neutral job titles.
Another significant development is the restriction on asking candidates about their salary history. This is intended to prevent previous pay differences from influencing future remuneration and potentially carrying existing inequalities from one role to another.
The legislation provides employees with greater access to information about how they are paid and how remuneration is determined.
Key requirements include:
This places greater emphasis on organisations being able to identify comparable categories of workers and explain how remuneration decisions are reached.
For payroll and HR teams, responding effectively will depend on having accurate information, clearly documented pay structures and reliable processes for accessing the necessary data.
One important aspect of the new framework is the broad interpretation of remuneration.
Assessing pay equity is not simply about comparing basic salaries. Other elements of an employee's overall reward package can also be relevant, including variable remuneration and benefits.
This makes collaboration between payroll, HR and reward teams particularly important. Organisations need a reliable picture of total remuneration if they are to understand pay differences and provide accurate information when required.
Larger organisations will face formal gender pay gap reporting requirements, with the frequency depending on workforce size.
Under the new framework:
Reporting covers more than a single headline figure. It includes measures such as average and median gender pay gaps, differences in variable remuneration and the distribution of female and male workers across pay quartiles.
This increases the importance of maintaining well-structured payroll and workforce data capable of supporting detailed analysis.
Reporting is only one part of the new framework.
Where a gender pay difference of at least 5% exists within a category of workers, cannot be justified using objective and gender-neutral factors, and is not remedied within the required timeframe, organisations may need to undertake a joint pay assessment.
This places greater emphasis on understanding the reasons behind pay differences rather than simply identifying them.
Organisations should therefore consider whether remuneration decisions, job evaluation methodologies and progression criteria are sufficiently documented to demonstrate why legitimate differences exist.
The practical impact of pay transparency extends beyond legal and HR policy.
Payroll data will increasingly provide part of the evidence organisations use to analyse pay gaps, respond to employee information requests and demonstrate how remuneration decisions are applied.
Preparation should therefore include reviewing:
Identifying gaps in these areas early can provide more time to strengthen processes before reporting and employee information requirements become established parts of workforce management.
For further guidance on Greek payroll, employment legislation, workforce compliance and global mobility, visit the Greece Global Insights section on the activpayroll website.
Greece's new legislation represents a significant development in how organisations manage and demonstrate pay equity. Recruitment, remuneration structures, workforce data and reporting will all play a role in meeting the new requirements.
If you would like to understand how Greece's new pay transparency requirements could affect your organisation, speak to our experts today.
With thanks to our Greece in-country experts at Eurofast for their valuable insight and contribution to this article.