The pay register is mandatory for every employer — including micro-businesses

Universal Obligation — No Size Threshold

Royal Decree 902/2020, of 13 October, on equal pay between women and men, implements the principle of equal pay for work of equal value established in Art. 28 of the Workers’ Statute. Unlike the equality plan — which applies only to companies with more than 50 employees — the pay register obligation applies to every employer in Spain that has employees, from a sole trader with one member of staff to a multinational group.

The three instruments introduced by RD 902/2020 are:

1. Pay register (Art. 5): mandatory for ALL companies
2. Pay audit (Art. 8): mandatory only for companies required to have an equality plan (more than 50 employees)
3. Job evaluation system (Arts. 10–12): tool to determine which jobs are of “equal value” irrespective of job title

What the Pay Register Must Include

For each professional category, occupational group, or job grade recognised in the applicable collective agreement or in the company’s own classification system, the register must include — for men and women separately:

• Mean base salary + median base salary
• Mean and median of each salary supplement — seniority allowance, hazard premium, shift-work premium, personal supplement, performance bonus, etc.
• Mean and median of non-salary perceptions — subsistence allowances, transport allowance, meal vouchers, employer-paid health insurance
• Mean and median of total remuneration (all above combined)
• Percentage gender pay gap for each component and for total remuneration

A register that includes only base salary is formally incomplete and does not discharge the obligation.

Calculating the Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap in the RD 902/2020 context is not the economy-wide gap published by national statistics (which compares all men with all women): it is the category-adjusted gap comparing men and women in equivalent work within the same company.

Formula: Gap (%) = ((Mean male pay – Mean female pay) / Mean male pay) × 100

When the register identifies a gap in any category, the company must document the objective factors justifying it — seniority, performance rating, specialist qualifications, shift work patterns — or acknowledge and begin addressing an unjustified disparity. An undocumented gap is as legally exposed as a missing register: Labour Inspectorate officers will ask for the justification document.

Pay Register vs. Pay Audit

Companies with more than 50 employees must comply with both obligations. Companies with fewer than 50 employees need only the register.

Employee-Representative Access

Under Art. 5.4 of RD 902/2020 and Art. 28.2 of the Workers’ Statute:

• Where employee representatives exist, they may access the full register: means, medians, and gaps across all categories
• Where no representatives exist, employees may access percentage differences between male and female means, without the absolute figures

GDPR protection: the register must not contain individually identifiable data. Where a category has fewer than five persons, categories must be grouped or data rounded to prevent identification of any specific individual’s pay in compliance with the GDPR and the Spanish LOPDGDD.

EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970 — The 2026 Horizon

Directive 2023/970/EU (10 May 2023) must be transposed into Spanish law by 7 June 2026. Key obligations that companies should begin anticipating:

1. Pre-employment salary information: companies must communicate the salary band to candidates in the job offer or before the interview — all companies, regardless of size
2. Employee right to comparative information: any employee may directly request the mean pay of their category disaggregated by sex; the company must respond within the statutory deadline
3. Periodic pay-gap reports: companies with 100–149 and 150–249 employees — every three years; 250+ employees — annually
4. Joint pay audit trigger: where the report shows a gap exceeding 5% in any category without objective justification, the company must conduct a joint pay audit with employee representatives within six months
5. Enhanced sanctions: the Directive requires penalties that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, with a presumption of discrimination where the employer cannot justify pay differences

Companies with a fully up-to-date pay register and a functioning equality plan are significantly better positioned for the 2026 transition — the data and processes required by RD 902/2020 form the foundation of the Directive’s obligations.

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