Lewiatan wants RDS to deal with pay gap project

Non-governmental organization representing the interests of Polish private entrepreneurs, Lewiatan Confederation, wants the Social Dialogue Council to deal with a draft law limiting the wages gap in Poland. The draft prepared by the Congress of Women Association provides for the obligation for companies to prepare annual reports on the gender pay gap.

According to the draft, the employer would be obliged to prepare and submit to the minister responsible for labor, by March 31 of each year, an annual report on the percentage difference in the amount of gross wages and salaries of men and women for the previous year. Wages would be calculated in a similar way to the holiday allowance, taking into account additional benefits such as rewards. The obligation would apply to information on remuneration obtained from an employment contract, mandate, provision of services, and management contracts. If these reports show that there is a wage gap at the workplace level, the employer would have to prepare a recovery plan.

The president of the Main Council of the Lewiatan Confederation, Henryka Bochniarz, pointed out that the pandemic showed how important the role of women is, because women were largely at the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus, working in health care, education, gastronomy, and trade. She noted that the pandemic increased the number of women's responsibilities, including those related to the support of remote learning for children.

"You cannot treat the role of women marginally. Looking at demography, if we do not solve many issues, we will not have people to work with. If we do not have a program supporting women, allowing them to combine professional work with family responsibilities, these problems will get worse," she said. 

At the same time, she expressed the hope that the bill would go to the Sejm.

The president of the Congress of Women Association Anna Karaszewska added that despite the widespread knowledge about the differences in wages between women and men, nothing has happened in this case over the last 20 years.

"Therefore, we as the Congress of Women have come to the conclusion following the footsteps of other EU countries, that the only way to overcome these outright injustices is to prepare a legal solution," she stated. 

She noted that almost all European countries have introduced similar solutions. In her opinion, equal wages of women and men is crucial for women to return to the labor market more willingly after a break caused by childcare, and thus for their pensions to be higher.

(PAP)