Pay Transparency: Federal Labour Court Limits the Right to Information
- Jul 22
- 2 min read
The right to information under the German Entgelttransparenzgesetz (Pay Transparency Act) is the entry tool for any equal-pay review: employees who suspect pay discrimination first ask what their comparison group earns. The Bundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court) has now limited this right in two respects: to the most recently completed calendar year and to the employee's own Betrieb (establishment) (judgment of 19 February 2026, case no. 8 AZR 83/25). One of those two limits, however, is already in doubt again – since 7 June 2026, when the deadline for implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive expired.
1. The case: information without limits?
An employee wanted to know the criteria and procedures used to determine her pay – retroactively, for several years. She also defined her comparison group across the boundaries of her own establishment. For this she relied on a Gesamtbetriebsvereinbarung (a works agreement concluded at company level, covering several establishments of the same employer): if pay is determined by the same rules everywhere, the comparison must cover all establishments – so her argument ran.
2. The decision: one year, one establishment
The Federal Labour Court rejected both points. In terms of time, the claim under Sec. 10 (1) sentence 1 in conjunction with Secs. 11 to 16 EntgTranspG covers only the most recent completed calendar year. That means the year from January to December, not the twelve months preceding the request.
In terms of scope, the information remains limited to the establishment; the relevant definition is that of the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz (Works Constitution Act). The case law of the European Court of Justice, under which pay can in some circumstances be compared across an entire company where it can be attributed to a “single source”, does not help here: it concerns the equal-pay claim under Art. 157 (1) TFEU, not the information right under German law.
3. The open flank: the EU Directive
The court decided a legacy case – under the law as it stood before 7 June 2026. On that date, the deadline for implementing the Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 expired; Germany has not yet passed an implementing act. Courts will therefore interpret the current EntgTranspG so as to come as close as possible to the Directive's objectives.
Little is likely to change for the time limit. The establishment limit, by contrast, stands on uncertain ground: Art. 19 of the Directive expressly codifies the “single source” concept. Where pay is set centrally – for example group-wide, or through agreements covering several establishments – the comparison framework could in future extend beyond the individual establishment. For information requests received since 7 June 2026, the position is therefore less clear-cut than the judgment suggests.
Want to know what this means for your pay question?
Whether it is an information request, a response strategy or the question of whether a salary withstands comparison: the legal situation is in flux.
If you are an employer that has to respond to an information request, or an employee who wants to know how far your claim extends, I offer you a short, free initial assessment. In that conversation, we will clarify how your situation is to be assessed and which next steps make sense.
