Malta now joins Slovakia, Lithuania and Italy among the small group of Member States that transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive on time.

Malta's regulations broadly follow the framework set out in the Pay Transparency Directive but introduces some notable deviations. In particular, the deadlines for responding to employees’ requests for pay information are both shorter and more complex than those set out in the Directive.

Key takeaways for employers

• Pay transparency obligations are now live. The regulations came into force on 7 June 2026, with no transitional period, meaning obligations around pay categorisation, recruitment transparency and the right to pay information apply immediately.
• Response times for pay information requests are extremely tight. Employers must respond to employee requests for pay information within just eight days (with a further request mechanism available – see below), which is significantly shorter than the two months allowed under the Pay Transparency Directive. Failure to provide information within 45 days of the initial request is a criminal offence.
• Worker representatives are union representatives, elected representatives or ‘other representative acting…in defence of that worker’s interests.’ This could widen the scope for unions to secure greater representation.
• Gender pay gap reporting begins in 2027. Employers with over 150 employees must submit their first pay gap report by 7 June 2027, covering the period from 1 January to 31 December 2026. Reports must be submitted within 14 working days of the end of the relevant period.
• Penalties are modest but criminal liability applies. Fines range from EUR 2,500 to EUR 7,000 and are not linked to turnover or payroll. However, the 45-day criminal liability for failing to respond to pay information requests introduces a notable enforcement risk.

Categorisation

Malta’s regulations align with the Pay Transparency Directive - both in terms of the factors to be relied on (i.e., skills, effort, responsibility, working conditions and other job related factors) and the involvement of worker representatives (i.e., objective gender-neutral criteria for assessing the value of work are to be agreed with worker representatives where they exist).

Pay transparency from the point of hire

Malta's regulations require employers to provide applicants with information about initial pay or pay ranges, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, before the conclusion of the recruitment process. Employers must also share relevant collective agreement provisions where applicable. The Pay Transparency Directive encourages disclosure earlier in the process, for example in a published job vacancy notice or before the job interview, but Malta's regulations do not reference those earlier stages, opting instead for a later deadline of “prior to the conclusion of the recruitment process”. This may extend to disclosure after interview, provided it is given early enough to enable a genuine and informed negotiation on pay.

Otherwise, aligning with the Pay Transparency Directive, employers cannot ask applicants about their current or previous pay history, and job advertisements and titles must be gender neutral.

Pay systems, criteria and progression

Employers must adopt and maintain written policies setting out the objective, gender-neutral criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression. These must be accessible to workers “at all times”, which appears more prescriptive than the Pay Transparency Directive's requirement that criteria be merely “easily accessible”.

Malta creates a tiered approach for smaller employers. Those with fewer than 50 workers are exempt from pay progression requirements. However, employers with 25 to 49 workers must still internally document their pay criteria, levels and progression. Employers with fewer than 25 workers remain bound by equal pay principles but have no documentation obligations.

The eight-day rule: pay information requests

One of the most striking features of Malta's transposition is the timeline for responding to employee requests for pay information. Workers have the right to request, and receive information in writing, on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value.

The initial deadline for an employer to respond is just eight days. This is dramatically shorter than the two months permitted under the Pay Transparency Directive and represents significant “gold-plating” that will require employers to maintain readily accessible pay data at all times.

If the employer does not respond within eight days, an employee representative (including a trade union) may submit a further request within 12 days from the expiry of the eight-day period. We assume (although it’s not clarified) employers would then have another eight days – so up to 28 days - to respond. If the employer still fails to respond, the worker may escalate through the Equality Body. If information is not provided within 45 days from the date of the worker's initial request, this constitutes a criminal offence.

For requests made in 2026, the information provided need only relate to pay for 2026 itself, providing some transitional relief.

Employers must also inform workers annually of their right to request pay information and the steps needed to exercise it.

Restrictions on pay disclosure

Malta's approach to pay disclosure is narrower than the Pay Transparency Directive's. The Directive prohibits restrictions on workers disclosing their pay “for the purpose of the enforcement of the principle of equal pay” and requires Member States to put in place measures prohibiting contractual terms that restrict such disclosure.

Malta's regulations only permit disclosure to “the relevant authorities or to the employees' representatives or the chosen union”. This limits the recipients of disclosure compared to the Directive, which imposes no such restriction. Malta's regulations also do not expressly prohibit contractual terms restricting pay disclosure.

Where disclosure of pay information would lead to the identification of an individual worker's pay, access is restricted to employees' representatives, the Equality Body and the Monitoring Body. The Pay Transparency Directive makes this optional for Member States, but Malta has made it mandatory, which is a more protective approach for individual privacy.

Gender pay gap reporting

Malta's reporting obligations closely track the Pay Transparency Directive's framework:

• 250+ workers: report by 7 June 2027, then annually
• 150 to 249 workers: report by 7 June 2027, then every three years
• 100 to 149 workers: report by 7 June 2031, then every three years
• Fewer than 100 workers: voluntary reporting only

Malta adds specificity by expressly setting out the reference periods (e.g., 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026) for the first reports, which the Pay Transparency Directive does not do.

The accuracy of pay gap reports must be confirmed by the employer's management after consultation with employees' representatives, who must also have access to the methodologies used.

Joint pay assessments

Where a pay gap report reveals a difference of at least 5% between female and male workers in any category, and the employer has not justified or remedied that difference within six months, a joint pay assessment must be conducted in consultation with employees' representatives.

Malta introduces a qualitative element not found in the Pay Transparency Directive: the employer must have “satisfactorily” justified the difference, adding a subjective assessment that could raise questions about its application in practice.

Where disagreements arise over the conduct of a joint pay assessment or the implementation of remedial measures, either party may request the Monitoring Body to attend a conciliation meeting. If conciliation fails, the matter is referred to the Industrial Tribunal. This structured dispute resolution mechanism has no express counterpart in the Pay Transparency Directive.

Enforcement and penalties

Malta sets fixed penalties: fines of EUR 2,500 to EUR 5,000 for general breaches and EUR 5,000 to EUR 7,000 where the offence involves equal pay discrimination. Repeat infringements attract more severe penalties within those ranges.

These amounts are not linked to turnover or payroll, which the Pay Transparency Directive contemplates. For larger employers, these fines may be considered insufficiently dissuasive, which could invite scrutiny from the European Commission.

Workers may bring claims before the Industrial Tribunal for lost pay and full compensation, including back pay, bonuses, payments in kind, lost opportunities, non-material damage and damage from intersectional discrimination. However, damages exceeding lost pay are available only where discrimination was carried out “wilfully and for vexatious reasons”. This restriction may conflict with the Pay Transparency Directive's express prohibition on prior upper limits to compensation.

Malta's regulations also impose a higher evidential threshold for triggering the reversal of the burden of proof. Workers must bring “initial proof...by reference to tangible and established facts”, whereas the Pay Transparency Directive requires only that a claimant “establish… facts from which it may be presumed” that discrimination has occurred.

Public procurement omission

Malta has not transposed Article 24 of the Pay Transparency Directive on equal pay in public contracts and concessions. There is no requirement for public contract operators to comply with equal pay obligations, no provision for penalties or termination conditions in public contracts, and no provision for excluding employers with a pay gap above 5% from public procurement.

Existing pay transparency rules

Malta had already partially transposed the Pay Transparency Directive through rules that took effect on 27 August 2025. The new regulations outlined above now implement the Directive more comprehensively. However, the earlier rules have not yet been repealed, creating some uncertainty around how any overlapping obligations should operate in practice.

What this means in the broader EU context

Malta's transposition adds to a growing patchwork of national approaches across the EU. If you're an employer with operations across the EU, understanding how each country's implementation differs from the Pay Transparency Directive and from one another is critical for compliance planning.

What employers should do now

Employers with operations in Malta should take immediate steps to prepare:

• Audit your pay data systems. The eight-day response deadline means you need pay information readily accessible at all times. Review your current data infrastructure and ensure you can generate the required information quickly.
• Review recruitment processes. Ensure job advertisements are gender-neutral, pay ranges are disclosed before the end of the recruitment process, and salary history questions have been removed from all hiring materials.
• Prepare for pay gap reporting. If you employ 100 or more workers in Malta, begin preparing the data and processes needed to submit your first report by the relevant deadline.
• Establish or review pay categorisation. Use objective, gender-neutral criteria to categorise workers, involving employees' representatives where they exist.
• Put data retention processes in place. Malta requires a minimum five-year retention period for pay information data, which has no counterpart in the Pay Transparency Directive.
• Brief your legal and HR teams. The combination of tight deadlines, criminal liability provisions and the immediate entry into force of the regulations means that awareness and preparedness across the organisation are essential.

For the latest developments on how EU Member States are transposing the Directive, visit our EU Pay Transparency Directive Hub.