Mandatory equality plan: meet the legal standard, avoid sanctions and strengthen your organisation

Since the approval of Real Decreto 901/2020 and Real Decreto 902/2020, companies with 50 or more employees are required to prepare, negotiate and register an equality plan (plan de igualdad). However, many Spanish companies remain non-compliant or hold poorly drafted plans that would not survive a labour inspection. Sanctions for non-compliance can reach 225,018 euros as a very serious infringement, and the company may lose access to public contracts and subsidies for as long as the non-compliance persists. The process of preparing an equality plan is more demanding than many businesses realise. A document of good intentions is not sufficient: the law requires a rigorous prior diagnosis of the equality situation within the company, negotiation of the plan with the legal representatives of the workers, the setting of specific and measurable objectives and measures, and registration of the plan with the Registro de Planes de Igualdad de las Empresas. In addition, for companies with 50 or more employees, the pay audit (auditoría retributiva) is a mandatory element that requires analysis of the gender pay gap and its causes.

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Why BM Consulting

Specialised advice and personal service

At BMC we prepare equality plans that fully comply with current regulations and that also function as genuine tools for improving people management. We begin with the situation diagnosis (analysis of the workforce, recruitment and hiring, professional classification, training, promotion, pay, work-life balance, harassment prevention), negotiate the plan with the legal representatives of the workers, and register it with the competent authority. For the pay audit, we apply the methodology required by Real Decreto 902/2020 to identify any remuneration differences between men and women, their causes, and the corrective measures required. The entire process is managed with full transparency, with the objective that the plan becomes an operational reality within the company rather than a document filed in a drawer.

  • The equality plan (plan de igualdad) is mandatory for companies with 50 or more employees and must be negotiated with employee representatives and registered with the REGCON.

  • The pay audit (auditoría retributiva) identifies the gender pay gap and its causes and is a mandatory component of the equality plan.

  • Without an equality plan, the company may be excluded from public subsidies and contracts and face fines of up to 225,018 euros.

  • The plan must be reviewed every four years or whenever the circumstances that determined its content change significantly.

How we work

From first contact to case completion

  1. Situation diagnosis

    We collect and analyse gender-disaggregated data across the entire workforce: distribution by category and department, recruitment and hiring, training received, promotions, fixed and variable pay, working hours and schedules, leave and absences, and registered harassment incidents. The diagnosis is the foundation of the plan.

  2. Pay audit (auditoría retributiva)

    For companies with 50 or more employees, we carry out the pay audit required by RD 902/2020: we identify comparable job groups, calculate the gender pay gap, analyse its causes (whether they reflect objective factors or direct or indirect discrimination) and propose the corrective measures required.

  3. Negotiation and preparation of the plan

    We advise on the process of negotiating the plan with the legal representatives of the workers (works council or staff delegates). We draft the plan with specific objectives, concrete measures, monitoring indicators and an implementation calendar for each area: recruitment, training, promotion, pay, work-life balance and harassment prevention.

  4. Registration and monitoring

    We handle registration of the plan with the Registro y Depósito de Convenios y Acuerdos Colectivos of the Ministry of Labour or the competent autonomous community. We establish the monitoring and evaluation system and advise on the renewal of the plan every four years or whenever the regulations require it.

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The problem

Since the approval of Real Decreto 901/2020 and Real Decreto 902/2020, companies with 50 or more employees are required to prepare, negotiate and register an equality plan (plan de igualdad). However, many Spanish companies remain non-compliant or hold poorly drafted plans that would not survive a labour inspection. Sanctions for non-compliance can reach 225,018 euros as a very serious infringement, and the company may lose access to public contracts and subsidies for as long as the non-compliance persists. The process of preparing an equality plan is more demanding than many businesses realise. A document of good intentions is not sufficient: the law requires a rigorous prior diagnosis of the equality situation within the company, negotiation of the plan with the legal representatives of the workers, the setting of specific and measurable objectives and measures, and registration of the plan with the Registro de Planes de Igualdad de las Empresas. In addition, for companies with 50 or more employees, the pay audit (auditoría retributiva) is a mandatory element that requires analysis of the gender pay gap and its causes.

Our solution

At BMC we prepare equality plans that fully comply with current regulations and that also function as genuine tools for improving people management. We begin with the situation diagnosis (analysis of the workforce, recruitment and hiring, professional classification, training, promotion, pay, work-life balance, harassment prevention), negotiate the plan with the legal representatives of the workers, and register it with the competent authority. For the pay audit, we apply the methodology required by Real Decreto 902/2020 to identify any remuneration differences between men and women, their causes, and the corrective measures required. The entire process is managed with full transparency, with the objective that the plan becomes an operational reality within the company rather than a document filed in a drawer.

Process

How we do it

1

Situation diagnosis

We collect and analyse gender-disaggregated data across the entire workforce: distribution by category and department, recruitment and hiring, training received, promotions, fixed and variable pay, working hours and schedules, leave and absences, and registered harassment incidents. The diagnosis is the foundation of the plan.

2

Pay audit (auditoría retributiva)

For companies with 50 or more employees, we carry out the pay audit required by RD 902/2020: we identify comparable job groups, calculate the gender pay gap, analyse its causes (whether they reflect objective factors or direct or indirect discrimination) and propose the corrective measures required.

3

Negotiation and preparation of the plan

We advise on the process of negotiating the plan with the legal representatives of the workers (works council or staff delegates). We draft the plan with specific objectives, concrete measures, monitoring indicators and an implementation calendar for each area: recruitment, training, promotion, pay, work-life balance and harassment prevention.

4

Registration and monitoring

We handle registration of the plan with the Registro y Depósito de Convenios y Acuerdos Colectivos of the Ministry of Labour or the competent autonomous community. We establish the monitoring and evaluation system and advise on the renewal of the plan every four years or whenever the regulations require it.

'50'
Employees: the threshold that triggers the obligation
225K€
Maximum sanction for non-compliance
4 years
Maximum validity of the plan

We knew we had the obligation but we had been putting it off because of how complex it seemed. BMC managed the entire process: carried out the diagnosis, explained how to negotiate with the works council, drafted the plan and registered it. From the time we commissioned the project to having a registered plan took three months. It also helped us identify aspects of people management we had not noticed. (anonymised case)

Elena Ramos General Director, Clinicas Ramos Salud SL

The regulatory framework of the equality plan

Equality plans in Spain originate in the Ley Orgánica 3/2007, de 22 de marzo, para la igualdad efectiva de mujeres y hombres, which established for the first time an obligation for companies with more than 250 employees. The Real Decreto-Ley 6/2019 gradually lowered the threshold to 50 employees, and Real Decretos 901/2020 and 902/2020 set out in detail the procedure for preparation, registration and the pay audit.

The result is a complete regulatory framework that requires not merely the existence of a document, but a rigorous process of diagnosis, negotiation, implementation and monitoring of equality measures.

The eight areas of the diagnosis

The diagnosis that precedes the equality plan must analyse eight specific areas of the company:

  • Recruitment and hiring process: Whether there are gender biases in requirements, selection and offers.
  • Professional classification: Distribution of men and women across categories and professional groups.
  • Training: Access to ongoing training by gender.
  • Career development and promotion: Percentage of promotions by gender and hierarchical level.
  • Working conditions, including pay: The pay audit (auditoría retributiva) as the central element.
  • Responsible exercise of work-life balance rights: Actual use of work-life balance leave by men and women.
  • Female underrepresentation: Areas or categories where women represent less than 40% of the total.
  • Prevention of sexual harassment and gender-based harassment: Existence of a protocol and registered incidents.

The gender pay gap: beyond the headline figure

The gender pay gap is arguably the most complex data point to interpret in the entire diagnosis. A difference in average pay between men and women does not always indicate discrimination: it may reflect a greater presence of men in senior categories, differences in the use of variable pay components, or the effect of a higher rate of part-time work among women. What the pay audit must identify is the unexplained gap: the difference that persists after controlling for all objective factors, which is the element that points to potential direct or indirect discrimination that must be corrected.

When the unexplained gap exceeds certain thresholds, the company is required to adopt corrective measures in its pay and job evaluation systems.

Benefits of the equality plan beyond compliance

A well-prepared and properly applied equality plan is not merely a compliance cost: it is an organisational improvement tool. Companies with greater gender equality tend to have lower staff turnover, higher productivity and a stronger reputation as employers, making it easier to attract talent. Furthermore, holding a registered equality plan opens access to the distintivo de igualdad empresarial (corporate equality badge), awarded by the Ministry of Equality, which carries weight in public tenders and corporate communications.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Non-compliance with the obligation to have an equality plan in companies with more than 50 employees can give rise to Labour Inspectorate sanctions classified as a serious infringement: fines of between 751 and 7,500 euros per infringement. However, the most serious consequences go beyond the financial penalty: the company may be excluded from obtaining public subsidies and contracts. In the most serious cases (companies without a plan that also commit discriminatory acts), the consequences may extend to dismissals being declared null and void if the affected worker alleges gender-based discrimination and the company cannot demonstrate that equality measures are in place. BMC designs and implements equality plans within the legal timeframe to avoid all of these consequences.
Yes. Since 7 March 2022, all companies with 50 or more employees are required to prepare and apply an equality plan. The 50-employee threshold is calculated taking into account the total workforce, regardless of the number of workplaces and the type of contract of each employee (permanent, temporary, part-time). Corporate groups may negotiate equality plans covering several group companies.
The pay audit is mandatory for all companies required to have an equality plan (50 or more employees). It consists of a systematic analysis of the remuneration of the entire workforce with the objective of identifying any pay differences between men and women that are not justified by objective factors. Real Decreto 902/2020 sets out the methodology that must be followed. The audit must include the gender pay gap, an analysis of its causes, and corrective measures. It is not an accounting audit but a pay equity analysis.
Non-compliance with the obligation to prepare and apply an equality plan is a very serious infringement under the Ley de Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social (LISOS), with sanctions of up to 225,018 euros. In addition, the company may be excluded from access to public procurement contracts and from employment-related bonuses and subsidies. The Labour Inspectorate treats verification of compliance with this obligation as a priority.
Yes. Negotiation of the equality plan with the legal representatives of the workers (works council, staff delegates or, in their absence, the negotiating commission) is a legal requirement. The negotiation process must be formalised by constituting a negotiating commission and must be documented. Where there is no legal representation of workers, the company may negotiate with the most representative trade unions in the sector or, as a last resort, may prepare the plan unilaterally, though this is less advisable.
Equality plans have a maximum validity of four years. Once that period has elapsed, they must be prepared and negotiated again. However, the plan may be reviewed before the four-year period expires if there are significant changes in the workforce, if the monitoring indicators show that objectives are not being met, or if the monitoring commission so agrees. An annual progress report on the degree of implementation of the measures and the achievement of the objectives must be produced each year.

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Frequently asked questions

Questions about Gender Equality Plan for Companies: Legal Obligation and Implementation

Non-compliance with the obligation to have an equality plan in companies with more than 50 employees can give rise to Labour Inspectorate sanctions classified as a serious infringement: fines of between 751 and 7,500 euros per infringement. However, the most serious consequences go beyond the financial penalty: the company may be excluded from obtaining public subsidies and contracts. In the most serious cases (companies without a plan that also commit discriminatory acts), the consequences may extend to dismissals being declared null and void if the affected worker alleges gender-based discrimination and the company cannot demonstrate that equality measures are in place. BMC designs and implements equality plans within the legal timeframe to avoid all of these consequences.
Yes. Since 7 March 2022, all companies with 50 or more employees are required to prepare and apply an equality plan. The 50-employee threshold is calculated taking into account the total workforce, regardless of the number of workplaces and the type of contract of each employee (permanent, temporary, part-time). Corporate groups may negotiate equality plans covering several group companies.
The pay audit is mandatory for all companies required to have an equality plan (50 or more employees). It consists of a systematic analysis of the remuneration of the entire workforce with the objective of identifying any pay differences between men and women that are not justified by objective factors. Real Decreto 902/2020 sets out the methodology that must be followed. The audit must include the gender pay gap, an analysis of its causes, and corrective measures. It is not an accounting audit but a pay equity analysis.
Non-compliance with the obligation to prepare and apply an equality plan is a very serious infringement under the Ley de Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social (LISOS), with sanctions of up to 225,018 euros. In addition, the company may be excluded from access to public procurement contracts and from employment-related bonuses and subsidies. The Labour Inspectorate treats verification of compliance with this obligation as a priority.
Yes. Negotiation of the equality plan with the legal representatives of the workers (works council, staff delegates or, in their absence, the negotiating commission) is a legal requirement. The negotiation process must be formalised by constituting a negotiating commission and must be documented. Where there is no legal representation of workers, the company may negotiate with the most representative trade unions in the sector or, as a last resort, may prepare the plan unilaterally, though this is less advisable.
Equality plans have a maximum validity of four years. Once that period has elapsed, they must be prepared and negotiated again. However, the plan may be reviewed before the four-year period expires if there are significant changes in the workforce, if the monitoring indicators show that objectives are not being met, or if the monitoring commission so agrees. An annual progress report on the degree of implementation of the measures and the achievement of the objectives must be produced each year.
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