Yes, temporary agency workers can be covered by the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Recital 18 expressly identifies persons who have a contract of employment or employment relationship with a temporary agency among the workers who should fall within the Directive where the relevant employment relationship exists. The important practical question is which entity is the employer for the obligation being assessed. A worker's physical placement at a user undertaking does not automatically mean the user undertaking should count that person as its own worker for Article 9. Agencies and user undertakings should follow the applicable national legal framework and document how responsibility and headcount treatment are determined.
Jurisdiction: European Union
Agency Workers Are Expressly Mentioned in Recital 18
Recital 18 of Directive (EU) 2023/970 expressly refers to persons with a contract of employment or employment relationship with a temporary agency among the workers who should fall within the Directive. Article 2 applies the Directive to workers whose employment contract or employment relationship is recognised under the law, collective agreements or practice of the relevant Member State, taking account of Court of Justice case-law. This means agency status is not a reason to assume the worker is outside the pay-transparency framework. The first task is to identify the actual legal employment relationship and the employer responsible under the applicable national framework.
The Agency and the User Undertaking Are Not Automatically the Same Employer
Temporary agency work involves more than one organisation, which creates a scope question that does not arise in a simple direct-employment relationship. The worker may perform day-to-day work at a user undertaking while having the relevant employment contract or employment relationship with the temporary agency. The fact that the worker uses the client's workplace, systems or supervision does not by itself answer which entity carries a particular obligation under the Pay Transparency Directive. Agencies and user undertakings should identify the national legal framework, the relevant employer and the obligation being assessed before assigning responsibility for information rights, pay data or reporting headcount.
Worker Information Rights Need a Clear Responsible Employer
Article 7 gives covered workers rights to request and receive information concerning their individual pay level and relevant average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value. In an agency arrangement, the responsible organisation needs to know who must receive the request, which pay population is relevant and which categories of workers are used for comparison under national implementation. A process that simply redirects every agency worker to the user undertaking, or every request to the agency without legal analysis, can fail. The responsibility matrix should reflect the actual employment relationship and the applicable national rules.
Do Not Count Every Person Working On-Site as the User Undertaking's Worker
For Article 9 reporting thresholds, a physical headcount of everyone present at a site is not necessarily the legal worker count of the user undertaking. Contractors, agency workers, employees of service providers and direct employees can all work in the same location. The Directive establishes reporting bands by number of workers but does not say that every person working at a premises belongs to the host organisation's headcount. The employer should identify the relevant legal relationship and then apply the national counting rule. This prevents the user undertaking from inflating or understating its reporting population based on workplace presence alone.
The Agency May Need Its Own Article 9 Threshold Assessment
A temporary work agency can itself employ a substantial workforce. It therefore needs to assess whether it falls into the Directive's Article 9 reporting bands based on the worker population and counting methodology applicable to it under national law. The fact that workers are assigned to multiple client sites does not remove the need for the agency to evaluate its own employer obligations. If an agency operates through multiple legal entities or across several Member States, the same entity-by-entity and country-by-country analysis used by other multinational employers becomes relevant. The reporting file should identify which employing entity is being counted and why.
User Undertakings Should Still Review Their Own Pay-Transparency Interfaces
Even where the temporary agency is the legal employer for a particular obligation, the user undertaking may still need clear operational processes because its managers, systems and job structures interact with agency workers. Recruitment, assignment decisions, role descriptions and access to workplace information can create practical touchpoints. The user undertaking should understand which responsibilities remain with the agency, which responsibilities arise under other employment laws and where cooperation is required. The Pay Transparency Directive should not be used to collapse every legal relationship into one, but neither should organisational complexity become a reason for leaving responsibility undefined.
National Implementation Determines the Operational Answer
The Directive gives a clear scope signal by expressly referring to persons with an employment contract or employment relationship with a temporary agency. The operational allocation of responsibility can still depend on national labour law, collective agreements and implementing legislation. Employers should therefore avoid publishing a universal statement that agency workers always count for the agency, always count for the user undertaking or always count for both. The correct answer may depend on the specific obligation. A documented matrix should identify the worker relationship, legal employer, relevant Member State, Article 9 counting treatment and the organisation responsible for responding to worker information requests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are temporary agency workers covered by the EU Pay Transparency Directive?
Yes, where the required employment relationship exists. Recital 18 expressly identifies persons with a contract of employment or employment relationship with a temporary agency.
Should a user undertaking automatically count every agency worker in its Article 9 headcount?
No. Workplace presence does not by itself determine the legal reporting population. The relevant employer and counting method should be determined under applicable national law.
Can a temporary agency itself have Article 9 reporting obligations?
Yes. A temporary agency should assess its own worker population and determine whether it falls within the reporting bands under the applicable national implementation.
Related Guides
Official Sources
Requirements and practices differ by jurisdiction and organisation. Check current local law, official guidance and professional advice for a specific situation.