Work starts on pay equity law overhaul

"A woman shouldn't be paid less just because sheis…ina female-dominated industry."

Julie Anne Genter,

Minister for Women

The Government is working to overhaul proposed legislation that it says has made it harder for women to fight for pay equity.

Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Iain LeesGalloway and Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter are reconvening the joint working group on pay equity principles as the next step in pay equity for New Zealand women.

The original working group, set up in 2015, developed a set of principles to guide the implementation of pay equity.

But the legislation introduced by the previous government made it harder for women to make a pay equity claim – in part because they could no longer look to other industries to benchmark their pay.

They would have to establish their case before they could make a claim and only when a dispute arose could they seek help from a mediation service.

‘‘The legislation proposed by the previous government was withdrawn from Parliament as one of the very first things we did,’’ Lees-Galloway said.

‘‘The old legislation undermined the original joint working group principles and created unnecessary hurdles for workers raising claims.

‘‘All three parties of the new government were opposed to the previous legislation, and said that we would not rest until New Zealand workers have genuine opportunities for pay equity. By reconvening the joint working group, we can address these issues and propose new legislation to provide a fairer deal for women.’’

Genter said the Government was committed to improving fairness in the workplace for women.

‘‘A woman shouldn’t be paid less just because she is a woman working in a female-dominated industry.’’

The key issues the reconvened working group will consider are: determining the merit of a claim as a pay equity claim; and how to select appropriate male comparators when assessing the work subject to a pay equity claim.

‘‘Once we receive the recommendations we will work to develop pay equity legislation which we expect to introduce mid2018,’’ Genter said.

BusinessNZ and the Employers and Manufacturers Association, along with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, are part of the working group.

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said it would be important for the legislation to enable legitimate pay equity claims to be easily identified and settled.

First Union general secretary Dennis Maga welcomed the move.