Applicants will be entitled to access information about the initial salary range for a position prior to interview.  The aim of this is to empower potential workers to negotiate fair compensation and to make recruitment processes more equitable.  The Directive also prohibits employers from asking prospective workers about pay history to ensure inequalities are not "baked in" at the recruitment stage.

Companies will be required to disclose information regarding their pay policies, including gender pay gaps, to ensure transparency and facilitate comparisons.  Existing workers will also have the right to request pay information for others in the organisation doing the same work or work of equal value. Employers will not be able to prevent workers discussing pay information to enforce equal pay rights and there should be no contractual terms that restrict workers from disclosing their pay or seeking pay information of others.

Companies with at least 100 workers will be mandated to report publicly data in relation to the company's gender pay gap. Where reporting reveals a gap of at least 5% and the employer is unable to justify such a difference in average pay level by objective and gender-neutral factors and has not remedied the difference within six months, employers will need to carry out a joint pay assessment.  Employers carrying out a joint pay assessment should do so in co-operation with their workers' representatives on the reasons behind this and come up with a plan to address and prevent the disparity.

The Directive seeks to safeguard workers from retaliation when they seek information about their own pay or file complaints regarding pay discrimination. Furthermore, a worker who has suffered harm because of an infringement of the Directive will have the right to seek compensation. Member States will be required to put in place penalties for employers that infringe the rules.