Equal pay for work of equal value: Maltese law and the 2026 pay transparency rules

Two people in the same organisation do work of the same value. One is paid more. Can the employer justify the difference, and what must it now disclose about how pay is set?

Equal pay has long been part of both Maltese and EU law. What has changed is the duty to show the working. Directive (EU) 2023/970, the Pay Transparency Directive, moves the question from “is pay equal?” to “can the employer prove it?”. Malta has transposed it through the Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026 (Legal Notice 173 of 2026), so these duties are now part of Maltese law.

The EU position

Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union requires each Member State to ensure equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value. Directive 2006/54/EC on equal treatment of men and women in employment gives that principle effect in national law.

Both instruments are framed around sex. They do not, on their own, address pay differences on other grounds.

The Maltese position

Article 27 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452) provides that employees in the same class of employment are entitled to the same rate of pay for work of equal value. Maltese law also prohibits discrimination in employment on grounds beyond sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, religion or belief, and racial or ethnic origin. In that sense, the Maltese principle reaches further than the EU texts.

The Act allows some flexibility. A collective agreement may set different salary scales, for example for employees recruited at different times, provided the scales lead to a maximum within a set period. Any distinction that is discriminatory and not justified by law has no effect.

Claims are brought before the Industrial Tribunal, which has upheld equal pay complaints where the employer could not show an objective reason for the difference.

How Malta has transposed the Directive

The Directive entered into force on 6 June 2023 and gave Member States until 7 June 2026 to transpose it. Malta has done so by the Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026 (Legal Notice 173 of 2026), made under articles 31 and 48(2) of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act. The Regulations apply to employers in the public and private sectors and to all workers with an employment relationship, and their recruitment rules also protect job applicants (regulation 1).

Their main requirements are these.

• Before employment. Applicants are entitled to information on the starting pay, or its range, for the position, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, and on any relevant collective agreement, before the recruitment process ends. Employers may not ask applicants about their pay history in current or previous jobs, and vacancy notices and job titles must be gender-neutral (regulation 4).
• Pay setting. Employers must adopt written, objective and gender-neutral criteria for pay, pay levels and pay progression, accessible to workers at all times. Employers with fewer than 50 workers are exempt as regards pay progression, but those with 25 or more must still document their criteria internally (regulation 5).
• Right to information. Workers may ask, in writing, for their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for workers doing the same work or work of equal value. In Malta the employer must reply in writing within eight days, a much shorter period than the two months the Directive allows. If it does not, the request can be pursued through an employees’ representative or the union, and then through the Equality Body (regulation 6).
• Disclosing pay. Workers may not be prevented from disclosing their pay to the authorities, their employees’ representatives or their union in order to enforce these rights (regulation 6(7)).
• Gender pay gap reporting. Employers with 250 or more workers report by 7 June 2027, on 2026, and every year after that. Employers with 150 to 249 workers also report by 7 June 2027, then every three years. Employers with 100 to 149 workers report by 7 June 2031, on 2030, then every three years. Smaller employers may report voluntarily (regulation 9).
• Joint pay assessment. If a report shows a difference in average pay between women and men of at least 5 per cent in any category of workers, which the employer has not justified on objective, gender-neutral criteria and has not remedied within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with the employees’ representatives (regulation 10).
• Burden of proof. Where a worker establishes facts from which discrimination in pay may be presumed, the employer must prove there was none. An employer that has not met its transparency duties carries that burden in any case, unless the breach was manifestly unintentional and minor (regulation 15).
• Time to claim. A claim for loss of pay and compensation under the Regulations may be brought within three years, running from when the claimant knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, of the breach (regulation 16).

The reporting dates are summarised in a table in the glossary entry on pay transparency.

What employers should do

• Map your roles. Group roles by work of equal value, using objective criteria such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. This is the basis for everything else.
• Write down your pay criteria. If you cannot explain a pay decision in a sentence on objective grounds, it will be difficult to defend.
• Fix recruitment. Remove pay history questions from forms and interviews. Publish a pay range or give it before interview.
• Review contracts. Remove or stop relying on pay secrecy clauses.
• Test your data now. Run an internal pay gap analysis before you are obliged to report. Gaps found early can be corrected or explained.
• Plan restructurings with this in mind. Selection and pay decisions in a reorganisation will be scrutinised under the same principles. See is it redundancy or unfair dismissal?

What employees should do

• Ask. You are entitled to ask, in writing, for your pay level and how it compares with the average for work of equal value. Your employer must reply within eight days.
• Keep records. Note your duties, responsibilities and any changes to them. These are the facts an equal pay claim depends on.
• Take advice before you act. Claims are subject to time limits, and the evidence must be gathered with care.

Maltese law has recognised equal pay for work of equal value for many years. Legal Notice 173 of 2026 adds the means to check it. For most employers, the work lies in the records.