Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Slovenia (Ratification: 1992)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap and its underlying causes. In its report, the Government indicates that, according to the Statistics Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS), the gender pay gap decreased from 7 per cent in 2018 to 4.2 per cent in 2020, and then increased again to 6.1 per cent in 2022. The Government highlights that, in 2022: (1) in most sectors and occupations, the gender pay gap decreased; and (2) the gender pay gap was the highest in the sectors of finance and insurance (23.7 per cent), and health and social care (20.1 per cent). The Government further indicates that structural changes, such as the decrease of female employees in the financial and insurance activities, where average salaries are high, had a major impact on increasing the gender pay gap until 2019. As regards the Committee's request for an assessment of the underlying causes of the gender pay gap in the country and measures to address it, the Government refers to: (1) an analysis undertaken by the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development of the Republic of Slovenia (IMAD) in 2020, according to which the reasons for the gender pay gap may include the differences in the work activity levels, occupations and activities that tend to be dominated by men or women, the extent of part-time employment, and the attitude of human resources departments in private and public authorities towards professional development, unpaid leave and parental leave; (2) the IMAD Development Report of 2024 which highlights that, although a gender pay gap exists from the start of men’s and women’s careers, it significantly widens around the time of the birth of a first child. The report notes that the gap is smaller in the public sector than in the private sector, primarily due to the standardized pay system in public employment. It also states that factors such as education, occupation, and age - often favourable to women - help reduce the gap, while sectoral differences in employment, which tend to favour men, contribute to the persistence of the gap; and (3) the "With transparency towards gender pay equality (STEP)” project, in which framework research on pay transparency measures was carried out, and followed up by an action plan for the implementation of the European Directive 2023/970 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal “value” between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. The Committee welcomes the efforts of the Government to reduce the gender pay gap in the country and to report on the findings of its assessment. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the: (i) impact of measures implemented or planned in response to the IMAD findings to reduce the widening gender pay gap; (ii) progress on implementing the action plan developed under the STEP project to promote pay transparency; and (iii) steps taken to address gender stereotypes in education and employment that influence women’s career choices, occupational roles and recognition as experts.

Articles 2 and 3. Application of the Convention in the public sector. Regarding the collection and monitoring of wage data disaggregated by sex in the public sector, the Committee notes the Government's indications that: (1) a new Act on the common foundations of the salary system in the public sector is being drafted, which will provide a legal basis for collecting and processing such data; (2) the SORS publishes wage data disaggregated by sex for the public sector, showing a slight decrease in the gender pay gap in the general government sector, from 14.5 per cent in 2010 to 14 per cent in 2022, and an increase in the gender pay gap in public companies from 8.1 per cent in 2010 to 12.3 per cent in 2022; and (3) the SORS improved its methodology to collect and process salary data, which will allow for higher quality of information and the possibility to disaggregate the data by specific categories, including gender. The Government also provides information on the methodology used to classify public sector jobs into salary brackets (for the basic component of the salary) independently of gender, which is generally done through collective agreements, and it is recognized that there can be gender-based differences in the variable component of the salaries, as employers have greater discretion in that regard. The Committee wishes to emphasize, in that regard, that the Convention sets out a very broad definition of “remuneration” in Article 1(a), which includes not only the ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary but also any additional emoluments whatsoever, payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker’s employment. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on steps taken to ensure that the principles of the Convention are upheld across the public sector. Specifically, this includes measures to: (i) ensure that skills traditionally considered "female" are not undervalued compared to those traditionally viewed as "male" when classifying jobs within salary scales; and (ii) raise awareness among public sector employers and supervisors about the Convention’s principles, to ensure that additional payments and performance-related pay are assigned without gender bias. Please also provide statistical data on the evolution of the gender pay gap within the public sector.

Minimum wages. The Government states that reliable data on minimum wage recipients is currently unavailable; however, a new data collection method to be introduced by the SORS will enable comparisons of wage levels between men and women. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the amended Minimum Wage Act on the gender wage gap once the new data collection method is implemented.

Collective agreements. With regard to its previous comment, the Committee notes that the Government stresses that: (1) section 133 of the Employment Relations Act - which states that the employer must provide equal pay for equal work and work of equal ”value” to workers - establishes a minimum legally defined right (i.e. minimum protection) to be provided to all workers, and provides that collective agreements that are in violation of law are null and void; and (2) according to section 9 of the Employment Relations Act, it is possible to determine more favourable rights through collective agreements. The Committee notes, however, that according to the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, 11 out of the 24 current valid sectoral collective agreements contain provisions on additional rewards based on company’s business performance that could be discriminatory in that they unfairly take into consideration the employees’ absence from work due to parenthood, pregnancy or childcare, as factors that can reduce additional bonuses awarded at the end of the year. In that regard, the Committee refers to its General Survey of 2012 on fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 686–687. The Committee thus requests the Government to report on: (i) steps taken to ensure that potentially discriminatory clauses in sectoral collective agreements are reviewed by social partners, with support from the Labour Inspectorate or the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, to assess compliance with section 133 of the Employment Relations Act; and (ii) any training and awareness-raising activities conducted for workers and employers regarding the principles of the Convention.

Enforcement. The Government informs that during the reporting period: (1) the Labour Inspectorate detected no violation of section 133 of the Employment Relations Act; (2) the Advocate of the Principle of Equality dealt with 44 discrimination cases, among which were one case of salary-based discrimination, and a number of cases where the Advocate pointed out that reducing additional performance rewards based on absences from work due to maternity leave and health-related absences due to pregnancy is discriminatory; (3) the number of detected violations of the Minimum Wage Act has progressively increased, the latest being 63 violations in 2023, although the Government does not indicate how many of those concerned women workers. The Committee asks the Government to provide information: (i) on any measures taken to enhance the capacity of the competent authorities, including labour inspectors, to identify and address cases of unequal remuneration between men and women workers for work of equal ”value”; and (ii) on the number and nature of violations or cases of unequal pay between men and women dealt with by the Labour Inspectorate, the Advocate of the Principle of Equality or the courts.