Time for employers to identify pay gaps within their organisations – Madigan

Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, Josepha Madigan, has called on employers to ensure that any existing pay gaps in their organisation are identified and addressed ahead of the enactment of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019, which was first introduced by Fine Gael in Government.

Minister Madigan was speaking after yesterday’s Cabinet approval of Report-Stage amendments to the Bill which was restored to the Oireachtas Order Paper in July 2020.

“The ‘National Strategy for Women and Girls (2017-2020) committed to focusing on the needs of working women by proposing to take action to tackle the gender pay gap in Ireland, which currently stands at an unacceptable 14.4% – a difference of almost 2 months in salary payments between men and women.

“I welcome yesterday’s Cabinet decision to progress with this much-needed legislation and to further make good on the Programme for Government’s commitment to legislate to publish information on gender pay gaps in large companies.

“Once enacted, employers will be required to publish certain information, including the difference between:

–           the mean and the median hourly pay and bonuses of male and female employees;

–           the mean and the median hourly pay of part-time male and female employees; and

–           the percentage of male and female employees who received bonuses and benefits in kind.

“The collection and publication of this data will be a major undertaking for any organisation, therefore it is important that employers follow some of these suggested steps in good time:

1. Seek legal advice;
2. Identify all relevant stakeholders whose input will be necessary;
3. Ensure that enough resources are in place to process any collated data; and
4. Consider what measures can be done to close any potential gender pay gap that is identified.

“I look forward to supporting this Bill – and I sincerely hope that it can be progressed through all remaining stages as soon as possible. It’s time to close the gap and seal it for good.”

ENDS