An EU law is set to dispel Dutch workplace secrecy, bringing salary ranges into job ads, giving you the right to ask what your colleagues earn, and forcing companies to publish their pay gap data.
In most Dutch workplaces, talking about your salary is technically allowed… but most people would view it as a major gaffe.
However, that’s about to change with the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which the Netherlands is now working on writing into national law (albeit not as quickly as Brussels would like!).
What’ll change for employees in the Netherlands?
When the EU Pay Transparency Directive is implemented in the Netherlands, it’ll bring a serious to-do list for employers.
In particular, the EU directive stressed that job vacancies must include a salary (or salary range), and employers are no longer allowed to ask candidates what they currently earn.
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The last point is crucial, as this question tends to anchor your new salary to whatever you were paid before, regardless of what the role is actually worth.
In addition to this, if you’re already employed by a company, the directive will give you the right to request information about your own pay level and how it compares to colleagues doing equivalent jobs.
For larger companies, the obligations go even further. Businesses with 100 employees or more will be required to report on their gender pay gap between men and women.
If a gap of 5% or more turns up in a job category without a clear justification, it’ll be mandatory for the company to create a full pay review and action plan.
An external monitoring body would then publish the results on a public website, so it wouldn’t just be internal box-ticking.
When is this actually happening?
Helaas, here’s where things get messy.
The EU deadline for all member states to write this into national law was June 7, 2026 — and the Netherlands has already announced it won’t make it.
A draft bill went out for public consultation in early 2025, but in September 2025, the government announced the timeline wasn’t feasible and then pushed implementation to January 1, 2027.
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An updated version of the bill went to the Council of State in January 2026, which issued its advice in April 2026.
As of May 22, 2026, this bill needs to pass through both the Tweede Kamer (Dutch House of Representatives) and Eerste Kamer (Senate) to fully take effect.
However, the good news is that from June 7, 2026, Dutch courts are expected to interpret existing national law in line with the directive.
While that’s not as powerful as the full law being in effect, it does mean employers aren’t entirely off the hook in the meantime.
Would salary ranges in job ads change how you approach your next negotiation? Let us know in the comments.
