Gender Equality Index Below 75 or 85 Points: Correction Plan

Quick answer. A professional equality index below 85 points out of 100 requires the company to publish progression objectives; below 75 points, it must implement corrective measures and reach the threshold within 3 years. Failing that, the penalty can reach 1% of annual payroll (article L1142-10 of the French Labour Code).

A low score on the gender equality index is not merely a reputational issue. It triggers precise obligations set out in the Labour Code, with a financial penalty at stake. The real difficulty is not calculating the index: it is turning a disappointing result into a credible, costed catch-up plan that can be defended before the labour administration (DREETS). This is the work we carry out regularly with the management teams and payroll departments we support.

We first recall the legal framework, then set out a concrete method for building a correction plan that protects the company. For the scoring mechanics indicator by indicator, see our dedicated article on the calculation of the equality index indicators and the penalty.

The gender equality index stems from the 2018 Professional Future Act (articles L1142-8 and following of the Labour Code). It is mandatory for any company with at least 50 employees, which must publish it each year no later than 1 March, out of 100 points, in a visible and legible manner on its website.

The score level directly conditions the obligations that follow. Three situations must be distinguished.

One point is often misunderstood: a score between 75 and 84 does not require corrective measures, but it does require the company to publish costed progression objectives for every indicator that has not reached its maximum score. Many companies cross this threshold without realising it.

The two mechanisms are sometimes confused, yet they follow distinct logics.

Progression objectives, provided for in article L1142-9-1, apply as soon as the overall score is below 85 points. They consist of setting, for each indicator whose maximum score has not been reached, a progression target. These objectives are published on the company website and brought to the attention of the social and economic committee (CSE).

Corrective measures, provided for in article L1142-9, apply only below 75 points. They are more demanding: the company must define concrete actions, where appropriate schedule a financial catch-up of pay gaps, and reach at least 75 points within 3 years. These measures are published on the Index Egapro platform.

How are these commitments formalised?#

Objectives and measures must be defined within the mandatory negotiation on professional equality. Absent an agreement, the employer sets them by unilateral decision, after consulting the CSE. This is a key point of vigilance: a plan adopted without documented social dialogue weakens the whole approach. We systematically connect this file with the BDESE and the information of the CSE, which must reflect the gaps and the commitments made.

A credible correction plan is not a statement of intent. It relies on a diagnosis, prioritised levers and a budget. Here is the method we apply in our engagements.

1. Break down the lost score, indicator by indicator. Identify exactly where points are missing. An index at 72, where 25 lost points come solely from the pay gap, calls for a different plan than one degraded by the maternity-leave return indicator.
2. Quantify the actual pay gap. Reconstruct remuneration by socio-professional category and age bracket, at the granularity of the official method, to isolate gaps that are not objectively justified.
3. Cost the salary catch-up. Calculate the cost of a targeted realignment, employer contributions included. This figure drives the budget decision and the plan's feasibility over 3 years.
4. Secure the maternity-leave return indicator. This indicator (15 points) works on an all-or-nothing basis: a single employee not raised on return loses the full score. A clear payroll instruction prevents the loss.
5. Formalise, negotiate, publish. Record the commitments in the equality negotiation or the unilateral decision, file them, publish the objectives and measures, and document transmission to the CSE and DREETS.

Because the salary catch-up is both a cost item and a compensation-policy matter, we handle it together with the arbitration of compensation policy and payroll and social management, so that the adjustments are correctly processed in payroll and properly provisioned.

• The diagnosis details the points lost per indicator and their likely cause.
• The unexplained pay gap is isolated and costed, contributions included.
• The catch-up schedule fits within the 3-year window (corrective measures) or shows dated targets (objectives).
• Commitments stem from the equality negotiation or a unilateral decision after consulting the CSE.
• Progression objectives are published on the website; corrective measures are filed on Index Egapro.
• Transmission to the CSE and DREETS is documented, with dates and acknowledgements.
• The payroll consistency review includes checking raises on return from maternity leave.

Companies with more than 250 employees calculate the index across 5 indicators: the increases gap (20 points) and the promotions gap (15 points) are separate, whereas they are merged into a single 35-point indicator for companies of 50 to 250 employees. The correction plan must therefore target each of these two levers distinctly.

Companies with at least 1,000 employees combine the index with the Rixain Act (Act no. 2021-1774 of 24 December 2021). It imposes a balanced-representation quota among senior managers and management bodies: 30% of each gender by 1 March 2026, then 40% by 1 March 2029, under penalty of a financial sanction. Two obligations, two deadlines, to be steered together.

Companies crossing the 50-employee threshold often discover the obligation late. The threshold triggers a cascade of HR obligations; we place it within the overview of 2026 employer obligations, alongside measures such as the senior index.

The underestimated risk. Many executives focus on the overall score and forget that the penalty under article L1142-10 can reach 1% of annual payroll, calculated on remuneration and gains as defined by the Social Security Code. On a substantial payroll, that far exceeds the cost of a controlled catch-up. The sanction is not automatic: it applies after an index that has remained below 75 points for 3 years, with a possible additional year depending on the efforts observed.

What the administration looks at. The DREETS controls publication, the transmission of indicators and the effectiveness of measures. A published plan with no real effect exposes the company as much as a failure to publish. Commitments must be dated, costed and linked to traceable decisions.

Trade-off. Faced with a degraded index, two paths exist: a targeted salary catch-up, more costly but acting on the heaviest indicator, or work on raises and promotions, more gradual. The right trade-off depends on the breakdown of the score and the company's financial capacity. We build it case by case.

Recently, a service company in the Paris region called on us after its index fell to 71 points, against a backdrop of tension with its CSE. The initial reflex had been to publish an ambitious plan to reassure. Our reading was different: before any commitment, the diagnosis had to be made reliable. Reconstructing remuneration showed that part of the gap stemmed from classification errors rather than actual discrimination, and that most of the lost points came from two untreated returns from maternity leave.

Our conviction, shaped by such files, is that a correction plan is won in the precision of the diagnosis, not in the scale of the promises. A costed, kept commitment is worth more than a generous, unmonitored plan: the latter fuels litigation and penalty risk. As chartered accountants registered with the Ordre, we secure the payroll and budgetary dimension of the catch-up, and we work on the articulation with social dialogue through our legal support for the company.

Hayot Expertise advice. Never publish a correction plan without costing the catch-up and checking its sustainability over 3 years. Document the CSE consultation, date each commitment and keep the transmission acknowledgements. A modest but kept plan protects better than an ambitious, abandoned one.