Can you share your salary with colleagues? What a pay secrecy clause can't stop

Employment contracts often contain a confidentiality clause. Usually it covers clients and company information, but sometimes it says in so many words that your salary or terms of employment are to stay private. If you signed one, you will probably leave a colleague's question about your pay unanswered.

The Dutch pay transparency bill (parliamentary document 36 949) changes that. A clause that stops you sharing your own pay where equal pay is concerned becomes void, including in contracts you signed years ago. Outside that, the clause still applies, and the line is narrower than many summaries of the law suggest. Below is what the text says, where the line is, when it applies and what you can do now. It is written for anyone working in the Netherlands, including expats; other EU countries are implementing the same directive on their own timelines.

What the law will say

The bill adds an Article 10b to the Dutch Equal Treatment of Men and Women Act. Two of its paragraphs deal with secrecy (our translation):

• Paragraph 5: "Workers shall not be prevented from disclosing information about their pay for the purpose of applying the principle of equal pay."
• Paragraph 6: "Any clause contrary to the fifth paragraph is void."

Void means the clause has no effect on that point. Your employer cannot hold you to it, and you do not have to arrange anything yourself. The rule comes straight from Article 7(5) of the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970), so the Netherlands cannot water it down.

Your existing contract too

The explanatory memorandum to the bill is clear on this. The directive leaves no room for an exception for clauses that already exist, so confidentiality agreements in place when the law takes effect are void from that moment. There will be no transition period for old contracts. Whether yours dates from 2009 or from last month makes no difference.

Where the line is

The law does not set the whole clause aside. The memorandum speaks of partial nullity: the clause falls away only to the extent that it imposes secrecy the directive does not allow.

The article is about your own pay. If you work in HR or payroll and see what others earn, it gives you no right to pass those figures on.

The sharing also has to relate to equal pay. The act this article sits in is about equal pay for men and women doing the same work or work of equal value. Comparing with a colleague to find out whether you are paid equally for comparable work falls within it. The memorandum does not say where the line lies beyond that. Someone who makes their salary public for a quite different reason cannot rely on this article in any case.

Confidentiality about client data, trade secrets or your employer's figures is not touched by this rule. That part of your clause still applies.

When it applies

Not yet. The directive should have been in Dutch law by 7 June 2026, and that date was missed. The House of Representatives debates the bill on 7 December 2026 and 11 January 2027, after which it goes to the Senate. The right is expected to apply from 2027.

Until then, Dutch law has no rule aimed specifically at pay secrecy. Whether your clause holds today depends on its wording and the circumstances. If in doubt, ask an employment lawyer.

What you can do now

Start with your contract. Search for "confidentiality" or the Dutch "geheimhouding", and check the staff handbook or regulations if your contract refers to one. If the clause only covers company information, it was never about your salary. If it names your salary or your terms of employment, that is the part that will fall away.

If you want to compare pay with a colleague, pick someone whose work is comparable to yours and say why you are asking. That is the situation in which the law protects you.

If you would rather not ask anyone for a figure, or you do not get one, you will soon be able to ask your employer what colleagues in the same or equal-value work earn on average, by gender. How that works is covered in can you ask what colleagues earn in the Netherlands?

The bill also forbids your employer from treating you less favourably because you assert your right to equal pay, support a colleague in doing so or file a complaint. That follows from Article 25 of the directive.

If your figures differ

A difference in salary does not mean pay is unequal. Your roles can look alike on paper and still differ in responsibility or effort, or one of you may have been employed much longer. So the first question is whether your work really is of equal value. How to judge that on the four factors in the law is covered in is my work of equal value to my colleague's?, and the free comparison puts your two roles side by side.

If things get stuck, talk to your works council, your union or an employment lawyer. This article explains the law with sources; it is not legal advice.