Pay transparency compliance for Law 5316/2026

From 1 November 2026, every employer in Greece must be able to show that men and women are paid equally for equal work or work of equal value. Law 5316/2026 brings the EU Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 into Greek law, and it applies to all private-sector employers, whatever their size. Optimal Pay, delivered with our legal partner Ad Hoc Legal, gets you compliant and keeps you there.

• Written pay structures for all employers, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria: skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
• Pay information for candidates. Candidates can ask for the starting pay or pay range before the first interview. Job ads must not refer to gender or family status.
• Employees' right to information. Employees can ask in writing for their own pay level and the average pay of men and women doing equal work. You must answer within two months, and remind staff of this right every year.
• Gender pay gap reporting to the Greek Ombudsman for employers with 100 or more employees.
• Joint pay assessment for employers that report, carried out with employee representatives, when a gap of 5% or more in any category is unexplained and not corrected within six months of reporting.

Employees	First report	Then
250 or more	7 June 2027	Every year
150–249	7 June 2027	Every three years
100–149	7 June 2031	Every three years
Under 100	No reporting duty	Pay structures and information rights still apply

Both programmes start with a diagnostic of your current pay data, structures and processes, so you know where you stand before you spend anything else.

• Optimal Pay Essentials: compliance, process and capability. Documented pay structures, job evaluation, updated recruitment and job-ad processes, a response process for information requests, and training for HR and line managers.
• Optimal Pay Advanced: pay equity, reward architecture and reporting. Everything in Essentials, plus a gender pay gap analysis, a reward framework, remediation planning and preparation of your reports to the Ombudsman.
• Legal support (add-on): Ad Hoc Legal reviews policies, contracts and collective agreement implications, and advises on disputes or joint pay assessments.

• HR, recruitment and payroll under one roof: we see your pay data from hiring offer to payslip.
• Legal and HR expertise combined through our partnership with Ad Hoc Legal.
• Certified to ISO 27001, so sensitive pay data stays protected.

Does the law apply to small companies?
Yes. Every employer needs pay structures and must answer employees' and candidates' pay questions. Only gender pay gap reporting is limited to 100 or more employees.

When does it start?
The obligations take effect on 1 November 2026. The first reports for companies with 150 or more employees are due by 7 June 2027.

What happens if we find a pay gap?
A gap is not illegal if objective, gender-neutral criteria explain it. For employers that report (100 or more employees), a gap of 5% or more in a category that can't be explained and isn't corrected within six months of reporting triggers a joint pay assessment with employee representatives.

Does this change how we recruit?Yes. Candidates can ask for the starting pay or pay range before the first interview, and job ads can't mention gender or family status. We update your job-ad templates and interview process as part of the programme.

Find out where your pay structures stand before 1 November.