After the Judgment of Spanish National High Court 69/2023, of May 29, the remuneration register of companies must report the remuneration data of the entire workforce, expressed through average and median values and, when this is not possible, through individualized values

Abstract

If until the Judgment of Spanish National High Court (SAN) 23/2023, of February 23, the exclusion of individualized remuneration data from the remuneration register, provided for in article 28.2 of the Workers' Statute and developed by Royal Decree 902/2020, was a peaceful criterion, this judicial resolution recognized the right of the representation of workers in the equality commission to demand them when necessary to evaluate the existence of jobs of equal value in the company. Going beyond this judicial doctrine, SAN 69/2023, of May 29, recognizes the right of the workers' representation to know the remuneration data of the entire workforce in the salary register, expressed in two ways: through the average remuneration values (mean and median) and, when they cannot be expressed in this way, through individualized remuneration values. The contribution engages in a critical dialogue with SAN 69/2023 on compliance with the legal reservation required by article 8 of the Organic Law 3/2018, the duty of confidentiality of the representation of workers as the only specific guarantee sufficient for their protection, the irrelevance of the existence of a company agreement on jobs of equal value and, finally, the role of collective bargaining in determining the content of the salary register. As the legal debate has been raised at the level of legality, the ruling does not address a strict scrutiny of the inclusion of individualized remuneration data in the remuneration register in relation to the right to protection of personal data (art. 18.4 Spanish Constitution).