The EU Pay Transparency Directive expressly prohibits employers from asking applicants about pay history, but it does not expressly prohibit asking what salary an applicant expects for the new role. That distinction matters. A recruiter may be able to discuss salary expectations where national law permits, but the employer should first or simultaneously provide the initial pay or range required by Article 5. An expectations question should not be used to make the candidate reveal previous pay indirectly or to avoid setting a transparent range. The eventual offer should remain grounded in objective, gender-neutral criteria for the position.
Jurisdiction: European Union
Article 5 Expressly Prohibits Pay History, Not Salary Expectations
Article 5(2) is specific: an employer shall not ask applicants about their pay history during current or previous employment relationships. The Directive does not use the same wording to prohibit a question about what the applicant expects to earn in the new role. That means the two questions should not be treated as legally identical at EU level. Employers still need to check national implementation, because a Member State may impose broader recruitment restrictions. The safest policy is to distinguish clearly between historical compensation and expectations for the vacancy being discussed.
The Employer's Pay Range Should Come Before Candidate Anchoring
Article 5(1) requires the prospective employer to provide the initial pay or its range based on objective gender-neutral criteria. That obligation changes how an expectations conversation should be handled. Instead of asking the candidate for a number before revealing anything about the role's pay, the recruiter can disclose the approved range and then ask whether it aligns with the candidate's expectations. This sequence preserves the employer's transparency obligation and reduces the risk that the candidate's first number becomes the sole anchor for the offer.
Do Not Turn an Expectations Question Into a History Question
A recruiter should not ask a candidate to justify an expectation by revealing what they currently earn or what their previous employer paid. That would move the conversation back into pay-history territory. Questions can remain focused on the new role: whether the disclosed range is acceptable, whether the candidate has expectations about fixed and variable pay, or whether particular benefits affect the overall package. The purpose is to understand alignment with the vacancy, not to reconstruct historical compensation through follow-up questions.
Salary Expectations Should Not Determine the Employer's Range
The employer should establish the role's starting-pay framework before interviewing candidates. If the organisation waits to hear each applicant's expectation and then creates a different range around that number, it weakens the objective gender-neutral basis required by Article 5. Expectations can help identify whether the role and candidate are commercially aligned, but they should not replace job evaluation, pay bands, collective-agreement rules or other objective criteria. The vacancy should have a defensible pay structure regardless of which individual applies.
A Candidate's Expectation Is Not Automatically the Correct Offer
An applicant may state an expectation below, within or above the employer's approved range. That answer does not by itself determine what the employer should offer. If the expectation is below the range, the employer should not automatically use it as a reason to undercut its objective pay framework. If it is above the range, the recruiter can explain the approved parameters or determine whether the role has been scoped correctly. Starting-pay decisions should remain tied to the position and consistent placement criteria.
Recruiter Scripts Can Make the Distinction Clear
Employers can reduce confusion by giving recruiters approved language. A script might disclose the role's starting range and then ask whether that range is broadly consistent with the applicant's expectations. The script can expressly avoid any request for current or previous salary. Applicant-tracking systems should also keep pay-history fields separate from any optional expectation field and should remove prohibited history fields where the implementing rules apply. Clear scripting helps internal and external recruiters follow the same sequence.
National Law May Go Further Than the Directive
The EU Directive sets the minimum framework, but Member States can adopt more favourable protections. A national law may regulate salary-expectation questions, the timing of pay disclosure or the information that can be collected during recruitment more strictly. Employers should therefore avoid treating the absence of an express EU-level ban as a universal permission across every jurisdiction. Country-specific recruitment guidance should identify whether expectation questions are allowed and how they should be phrased.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the EU Pay Transparency Directive ban salary-expectation questions?
The Directive expressly bans questions about pay history, but it does not expressly prohibit asking what an applicant expects for the new role. National law may impose broader restrictions.
Should recruiters disclose the range before asking about expectations?
That is a strong compliance approach because Article 5 requires the employer to provide the initial pay or range and it prevents the applicant's number from replacing the employer's objective pay framework.
Can a recruiter ask current salary to understand expectations?
No. Asking current salary would be a pay-history question prohibited by Article 5(2).
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.