Do rules apply below 100 employees?
Yes. Several obligations such as information requests and objective classification apply regardless of company size.
Quick answer
- Most transparency obligations apply to every employer.
- Reporting obligations are stricter from 100 employees.
- Start governance early, even as a smaller organization.
HomePay Transparency Directive applies to employers under 100 too
Pay transparency and SMEs
Pay Transparency Directive applies to employers under 100 too
"I don't have 100 employees, so the law doesn't apply to me" is one of the most persistent misconceptions about the Pay Transparency Directive. Employers with fewer than 100 employees assume they're off the hook. That assumption is wrong. The 100-employee threshold only applies to the reporting obligation. The vast majority of the law applies to every employer.
Last update: April 3, 2026 · Reading time: 7 minutes
Which obligations apply to all employers?
The draft legislation is clear. The obligations apply to all employers in the Netherlands. Only a few obligations are limited to employers with 100 or more employees.
Pay information request
Under article 10b of the Equal Treatment Act, every employee can request written information about their own pay and gender-disaggregated average pay levels per category. The employer must provide this within two months. No minimum threshold.
Gender-neutral pay structures
Every employer must have a system for job evaluation and classification based on objective and gender-neutral criteria. Your pay structure must be transparent and demonstrably free of prohibited discrimination.
Informing job applicants
Job postings must include the starting salary or salary range. Asking about a candidate's previous salary is no longer permitted.
Burden of proof on employer
When pay inequality is suspected, the burden of proof shifts to the employer (Equal Treatment Act article 11). The employer must prove there is no discrimination.
Sanctions
Non-compliance can lead to warnings, penalty payments and administrative fines that are made public (Equal Treatment Act articles 22a-22e).
Where are the thresholds then?
There are exactly two obligations with an employee threshold.
50 or more employees
Pay progression criteria
Employers with 50 or more employees must provide employees with easy access to criteria for pay progression (article 10a paragraph 2 Equal Treatment Act).
100 or more employees
Gender Pay Report
Employers with 100 or more employees face a reporting obligation: the Gender Pay Report. An unexplained pay gap of 5% or more triggers a mandatory Joint Pay Assessment (JPA) with the works council.
That's it. Two thresholds. Everything else applies to everyone.
What does this mean in practice?
Imagine you have a company with 30 employees. Tomorrow an employee sends an email with a pay information request. You have two months to respond with clear, gender-disaggregated figures per job category. Don't have those figures ready? Then you have a problem. Not because you have over 100 employees. You have a problem because the law requires this of every employer.
The same applies to your job postings. If you post a vacancy today without a salary range, you're in violation as soon as the law takes effect. Regardless of your company size.
The 100-employee threshold only applies to the reporting obligation. The vast majority of the law applies to every employer.
How Payqual helps
Most obligations that apply to all employers revolve around the same foundation: objective, gender-neutral job evaluation and a clear pay structure. Payqual provides exactly that.
1
Import
The platform imports data from your existing HR system. Without processing personal data, fully GDPR-compliant.
2
Cluster
Roles are clustered using a validated job evaluation method.
3
Detect
Payqual identifies where pay differences cannot be objectively explained.
4
Report
From pay information request responses to full reports. Whether you have 25 or 250 employees, the workflow is the same.
Payqual makes the difference between "we think it's correct" and "we can prove it". Don't wait until the reporting obligation applies to you. The obligations are already here.
Sources
- [1]Explanatory Memorandum Pay Transparency Directive Implementation Act, internetconsultatie.nl, 2025
- [2]Policy Compass Form internet consultation, internetconsultatie.nl, 2025
- [3]Payqual Summary, "Paying without risks", March 2026
- [4]PwC, "EU pay transparency: European Commission refuses postponement", December 2025
- [5]Explanatory Memorandum, article 10a paragraph 2 Equal Treatment Act
Frequently asked questions
What changes from 100 employees?
From 100+ employees, recurring formal pay reporting requirements are added.
Related articles
The obligations already apply
Want to know if your organisation is prepared for the Pay Transparency Directive, even under 100 employees?