[2] The law was strongly supported by Manuela Schwesig, the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
In this respect, it supplements the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz [de] (AGG), Germany's general anti-discrimination law, which was enacted in 2006.
[6] In the event of direct or indirect discrimination based on sex, the employer may be required to retroactively pay equal wages.
In the 2013 coalition agreement, the CDU, CSU, and SPD initially agreed on a threshold of 500 employees for the individual right to information about the criteria used to determine compensation.
[10] At a public hearing of the Committee on Family Affairs, the German Trade Union Confederation criticized the bill for not providing for collective actions in the case of wage discrimination.
The group applauded the introduction of the individual right to information, but noted that women would likely face professional retaliation for taking action alone against their employers.
[9] Alexander Hagelüken and Thomas Öchsner researched the outcomes of the law in May 2018 on behalf of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
[12] In companies where pay inquiries were made directly to the employer instead of through a works council, a large number of employees did not make use of their right to information due to fear of retaliation.