Directive enforcement 7 June 2026 · Loi Rixain partial · Index égalité in force · directive deadline missed, draft targets 1 Jan 2027
EU Pay Transparency Directive in France.
France introduced gender-pay reporting through Loi Rixain (2021) and operates the Index de l'égalité professionnelle, requiring all employers with ≥50 staff to publish a transparency score annually. The 2023 EU directive layers on top of this French framework, with transposition extending France's already-substantial pay-transparency regime to advert-level disclosure and broader pay-gap reporting brackets.
Transposition status
Where France sits today.
Pre-existing law
Loi Rixain (2021) + Index égalité professionnelle
French law requiring employers ≥50 staff to compute and publish an annual gender-equality index (a 100-point composite covering pay gap, raises, promotions, parental leave, top-10 highest-paid breakdown). Loi Rixain extends to representation on executive bodies. Both pre-date the EU directive.
Directive transposition
Deadline missed; draft bill targets entry into force 1 January 2027; index continues
France's transposition adds advert-level disclosure (Article 5) and the joint pay assessment trigger to its existing index regime. France did not meet the 7 June 2026 deadline; a draft transposition bill is expected to reach parliament in 2026, with targeted entry into force on 1 January 2027. Index publication continues unchanged. Sanctions for non-compliance are administrative; DREETS (regional labour inspectorate) handles enforcement.
Operational implications
What changes for employers hiring into France.
Salary in job adverts (Article 5)
New requirement post-transposition: French job adverts (offres d'emploi) for hire-into-France roles must publish pay information before interview. Listings on Welcome to the Jungle, JobTeaser, Free-Work, and direct-ATS-served French roles will reflect the shift.
Index égalité interaction
The Index égalité keeps running. Employers ≥50 staff publish a 0-100 score annually; below 75/100 triggers a corrective plan with three years to remedy. The directive's pay-gap reporting (Article 9) operates in parallel, with the directive's thresholds and frequency rules applying alongside the index.
Joint pay assessment trigger
The directive's 5%-gap-unjustified-six-month rule takes effect after transposition. Triggers cross-reference with the Index égalité - an employer below the index threshold AND with a directive-level unjustified gap faces compounding remediation requirements.
Pay-secrecy clauses
France already protects worker pay disclosure through Code du travail interpretation; the directive formalises this. Confidentiality clauses in French employment contracts that prevent equal-pay-related disclosure are unenforceable.
Market context
The France remote market - practical signals.
Language
French primary; English in tech / international
Tech remote roles often run in English; legal, finance, sales, and HR-facing roles default to French. Most French employers post listings in French even for English-working teams.
Working hours
CET / CEST · 35-hour week framework
Standard French working week is 35 hours (legal); cadres (executives) operate on annual-day quotas. Remote roles inherit these frameworks.
Employment framework
CDI permanent contracts · CDD fixed-term legally constrained
CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée) is the standard. CDD (fixed-term) requires legal grounds. Strong dismissal protection. Convention collective per sector adds layer.
Currency
EUR · Paris is the high-pay anchor
Paris pays significantly above national average. Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux are second-tier tech clusters. Remote-France often benchmarked to a national midpoint.
FAQ
France - common questions.
Does the directive replace the Index égalité?
No - the Index continues. The directive's pay-gap reporting (Article 9) runs alongside. French employers will produce both: the annual Index publication AND directive-aligned pay-gap reporting at the directive's thresholds and cadence.
What about cadres (executives) under the 35-hour framework?
Cadres in forfait jours (annual-day) frameworks are bound by the directive on the same terms as other workers - the directive applies to the employment relationship, not the working-time arrangement. Pay-disclosure rules cover all employee categories.
My company hires remote French candidates from a Luxembourg entity. Where does the directive apply?
Workers employed under Luxembourgish labour law fall under Luxembourg's transposition; workers employed under French labour law fall under France's. Cross-border hiring with EOR (employer of record) arrangements typically resolves this - the EOR's jurisdiction determines applicable law.
Is non-compliance public?
Index égalité scores are published publicly per French law. The directive's pay-gap reporting (Article 9) requires employers to publish gap data per the cadence in the regulation; non-publication is itself a sanctionable failure.