Pay transparency in Finland
Bill in parliament
Government bill HE 129/2026 vp amending the Act on Equality between Women and Men was submitted on 9 July 2026. The Employment and Equality Committee reported on 22 October 2026 (TyVM 9/2026 vp), and Parliament completed the first reading on 6 November 2026; the second reading is pending. Planned entry into force is 1 January 2027.
Draft · legal review pending, not yet published.
Last checked: 10/11/2026. This overview is not legal advice. Laws change; the linked legal text is what counts.
- In force since
- –
- Job ads
- No rule yet. No duty in force yet. Under the bill, employers must give applicants the starting pay or its range as early as possible in the recruitment process, for example in the job ad, before the interview or otherwise; the ad itself is not mandatory. Asking about current or previous pay would be banned.
- Asking about previous pay
- No legal ban yet
- Workers' right to information
- Under the bill, employees would have the right to learn the average pay levels, by sex, of the group doing the same or equal-value work, and the right to discuss pay. Not yet in force.
- Pay reporting
- Under the bill, employers regularly employing 100+ would report gender pay gap data via the Incomes Register and Statistics Finland to the Ombudsman for Equality: 250+ annually, 100–249 every three years; larger employers first by 2 May 2028, those with 100–149 first by 2 May 2031. Today, employers with 30+ employees must already prepare an equality plan with a pay survey.
- Penalties
- Bill: a new default payment (laiminlyöntimaksu) for failing the joint pay assessment duty, a wider scope for conditional fines, and a three-year limitation period for compensation claims in pay discrimination cases. Existing compensation under the Equality Act is at least EUR 4,360 (max EUR 21,800 in recruitment cases, Decree 269/2024).
Not verified: Committee amendments (TyVM 9/2026 vp) were not reviewed, so details may differ from the original bill. The default-payment amount and the exact reporting cohorts for 150–249 were not checked in the statutory text. The 30-employee equality-plan threshold is existing law and was not re-checked here.
26% of job ads in Finland state pay
2,442 of 9,232 ads on employer career sites and applicant tracking systems in the last month; 21% for tech-related titles (112 of 542). Measured on 11/11/2026 via Active Jobs DB; includes pay read from the ad text.
IT salaries in FinlandSources
- HE 129/2026 vp · Eduskunta (Parliament of Finland) · 09/07/2026
- HE 129/2026 vp – processing record and bill text (open data API) · Eduskunta open data · 06/11/2026
- Viivästynyt esitys palkka-avoimuudesta eteni viimein eduskuntaan · Satakunnan Sanomat (STT) · 09/07/2026
- Lausunto hallituksen esityksestä (HE 129/2026 vp) palkka-avoimuusdirektiivin täytäntöönpanemiseksi · Tasa-arvovaltuutettu (Ombudsman for Equality) · 11/09/2026