BNP Paribas sentenced on equal pay

A lower court has just convicted the bank, the magazine’s website reveals Challenges, and asks him to integrate the bonuses into the remuneration in order to be able to compare the incomes and apply the rule “for equal work, equal pay”. A decision that could well set a precedent. This variable part, the bonuses, in finance, can go as far as doubling the initial salary for certain executives. However, like all banks, BNP Paribas did not include this variable part in the calculation of remuneration when it came to making the comparison between what women earn and what men earn.

Banks refuse to include bonuses and only take into account fixed remuneration on the pretext that they are discretionary. The judges did not hear it that way. While they recognize that bonuses may vary from year to year, they insist that they are based on the employee’s results and that their amount depends on the achievement of specific objectives. This removes their discretionary character. To be able to effectively compare income between men and women within the bank, it is therefore necessary to integrate bonuses.

Finance is one of the sectors where wage inequalities between men and women are the most significant. In banking, women earn on average 32% less than men, according to Ddirection of the animation of research, studies and statistics (Dares), against a national difference of 23%. Nine points more therefore of salary difference in the bank compared to the rest of the activity.

There is of course part-time work, more used by women, and departures on maternity leave, which slow down careers, but a study by the Conférence des grandes écoles recalled this year that in banking and insurance, a young graduate starts at 42,000 euros gross per year, while a young man starts at 47,000 euros.