On May 8, 2026, Act No. 76/2026 Coll. on Equal Pay for Men and Women for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value and on Amendments to Certain Acts (the “Equal Pay Act”) was published in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic. The Equal Pay Act transposes into Slovak law Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. The Equal Pay Act enters into effect on June 7, 2026.

The aim of the Equal Pay Act is to introduce a pay transparency system that will:

• enable the monitoring and assessment of pay differences between men and women;
• ensure that employers introduce pay structures based on objective criteria.

The most significant obligations introduced by the Equal Pay Act include:

• the obligation of every employer, regardless of the number of its employees, to implement a pay structure based on objective, gender-neutral, and non-discriminatory criteria (e.g., the complexity of the work, responsibility, effort, and working conditions), subject to agreement with the employee representatives, if any;
• the obligation of an employer to provide a job applicant, before the job interview or before the conclusion of the employment contract, with information on the initial pay or the applicable pay range;
• a ban on requesting information from a job applicant about their pay with their current or previous employers;
• the obligation of an employer to make available to its employees the criteria for determining pay, pay levels, and pay increases; an employer with fewer than 50 employees is not required to make available the criteria for determining pay increases;
• the right of an employee to receive information on pay (i.e., the level of their own pay and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, in the category of employees performing equal work or work of equal value);
• the obligation of an employer to inform its employees, once a year, of their right to information on pay and of the procedure for exercising this right;
• the obligation of an employer to submit a pay report covering the preceding year to the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic by April 15 (i) annually where the employer has at least 250 employees and (ii) once every three years where the employer has between 100 and 249 employees. For employers with fewer than 100 employees, the submission of pay reports is voluntary;
• the obligation to carry out a joint pay assessment in cooperation with the employee representatives if the pay report reveals a difference of at least 5% in the average pay level of men and women in any category of employees and the employer neither justifies that difference on the basis of objective criteria nor eliminates it within six months of submitting the report.

The Equal Pay Act also strengthens the position of employees in potential court proceedings. The burden of proof will not lie with the claimant employee but with the employer, who must demonstrate that no discrimination has occurred or that the violation was manifestly unintentional and minor. An employee is entitled to monetary compensation for harm caused by a breach of the right to equal pay, which may consist of the recovery of unpaid pay, compensation for lost opportunities, compensation for non-material or other harm, and interest on late payments.

Under the transitional provisions, employers are required to comply with the obligation to implement a pay structure by July 31, 2026. Employers will provide employees with information on average pay levels for the first time for the year 2027. An employer with at least 150 employees will be required to submit its first pay report to the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic by June 7, 2027, covering the period from August 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026, while an employer with 100 to 149 employees will be required to do so by June 7, 2031, covering the year 2030. A fine ranging from EUR 4,000 to EUR 8,000 may be imposed if an employer fails to submit a pay report even within the additionally determined (granted) time period.

The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic is to publish a methodology for assessing and comparing the value of work by June 30, 2026. However, employers may also follow other internationally recognized methodologies for job evaluation.