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Equal Pay Day marks the symbolic day in the year when women effectively "stop earning", compared to men, due to the gender pay gap in Europe. In recent years, the EU has intensified its focus on addressing pay inequality with a series of legislative initiatives that enhance pay transparency and gender-related reporting obligations. The EU Pay Transparency Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) both set out the detailed information that companies must provide on the gender pay gap in their management reports. Equal Pay Day serves as a timely reminder of recent advancements in pay transparency legislation that impact compliance requirements, corporate governance and employee relations.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek welcomes Rick van 't Wout as new partner. He has been appointed as partner in the Employment & Employee Benefits practice group, collaborating closely with other practice groups within the firm.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives are now critical drivers for companies – there is no getting around it. Companies often make significant ESG efforts. But when they wish to – or have to – communicate about these efforts, a growing web of regulations becomes relevant. This, coupled with increasingly active authorities who are on the look-out for greenwashing practices, means that it can be hard to establish what is, and what is not, allowed or required. Below, we will summarise the state of play and also look ahead.