Women across the EU are losing billions of euro every year because of delays in implementing new pay transparency laws, according to research from the European Trade Union Institute.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive aims to combat pay discrimination and help close the gender pay gap in the European Union.
Under the rules, employers will be required to share information on salaries and take action if their gender pay gap exceeds 5%.
The directive was supposed to be adopted by governments by 7 June but Ireland, along with most other EU member states, missed the deadline.
According to a study by the European Trade Union Institute, the average woman worker will be €672 a year poorer compared to if there was a 10% reduction in the gender pay gap as a result of pay transparency.
That means the 43 million women working in companies covered by the pay transparency directive will collectively lose €28 billion a year compared to if there was a 10% reduction.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said the figures show why member states must show urgency in writing the pay transparency directive into their national law.
“The cost of pay transparency measures are small for companies but this analysis shows that inaction by national governments will cost women workers billions in lost wages,” said ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch.
“This is completely unacceptable when women have already suffered decades of pay discrimination,” Ms Lynch said.
The Irish Government has said that pay transparency measures will come into force on a phased basis and that in the meantime employers will not be penalised for non-compliance.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality said previously enacted gender pay gap legislation has transposed a large portion of the Pay Transparency Directive, and that work is ongoing to transpose the remaining provisions of the directive as soon as possible.
