Advocacy group calls for Equal Pay Amendment Act repeal, independent pay equity unit

A committee formed to scrutinise sweeping pay equity changes says the government violated the rule of law and human rights legislation through its 2025 law.

The unofficial 'People's Select Committee' - made up of 10 former female MPs from different political parties - has released its report on Tuesday after receiving 1390 submissions on the topic, and held three months of hearings across the country.

Among its recommendations are that the 2025 law be repealed, and an independent pay equity unit be established to help employers to look at future claims.

Former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring spearheaded the committee after the Equal Pay Amendment Act was passed under urgency in May. She said the committee aimed to provide evidence the government had not obtained.

The report was released at an event at the National Library in Wellington on Tuesday morning, with dozens of people seated and others lining the walls to hear the findings of the group.

The MPs involved with hearing the submissions and putting together the report were also there, and former Labour cabinet minister Lianne Dalziel told the event the group agreed with submitters that found the changes were a breach of good governance.

"The way ministers also covered up what they were doing while letting work on pay equity claims proceed was a breach of good faith."

Former National MP Marilyn Waring told workers not to feel defeated by the law change.

"That's what they want, alright? That's their most important thing is to make you feel powerless and to feel defeated. Defy them."

Librarian and PSA member Zoe Eccles said it was important they keep working towards progress.

"The committee that has been formed is the perfect example of what people can do when they get together and take steps towards hope."

Social care worker and Etu member Tamara Baddeley wanted change following the release of the group's report.

"To hell with the budget when we get paid extra our money goes back into our local communities."

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said members of the public - including former MPs - were free to hold their own opinions and publish their own material.

"As I said at the time, equal pay is here to stay, and a pay equity system remains.

"The new law is already being used to process claims. It makes the regime simpler and more robust, focused squarely on sex-based discrimination, and sets out a transparent process through which employers and employees can negotiate questions of equal value."

Van Velden said the acting Attorney-General concluded at the time that the Equal Pay Amendment Bill was justified and proportionate to the Bill of Rights Act.

'Government's approach offends the rule of law'

The committee's report said the government had offended the rule of law and principles of good law-making including by enacting retrospective legislation, using urgency, failing to do consultation or a provide a Regulatory Impact Statement.

It said the government's decision to retrospectively apply the changes to existing claims - stopping 33 of them - breached the rule of law.

A key feature of the rule of law is that laws should not impose retrospective obligations and be forward-looking, the committee said.

It said this was a principle in the Regulatory Standards Act and Legislation Act.

"In announcing the legislation, the government could have said that the claims process would be closed to future claims."

Committee members instead said they believed the reason for the retrospective changes was to save money in Budget 2025.

Submitters were concerned about the lack of transparency and scrutiny in the way the bill was developed, the committee said, including Dame Silvia Cartwright.

"The rights that these women ... relied on, have been removed or changed to their detriment without giving them a chance to comment. This appears to be an historically unfair provision, that breaches fundamental legislative principles of fairness, legal certainty and the rule of law," Cartwright submitted.

The committee also criticised the lack of a Regulatory Impact Statement [RIS], a document prepared for Cabinet which analyses costs, benefits and the regulatory impacts of proposed changes.

"The absence of a RIS means that there was literally no evidence to support the claims the government made with respect to the existing framework that the new law would essentially replace."

The committee said peak bodies including the Aged Care Association and Atamira Platform Trust spent significant time and money gathering data and working with government agencies on the process right up until an announcement on the law was made.

The Platform Trust, a peak body representing members in the health and addiction community sector, told the committee it had spent $1.3 million on the process.

"In February 2025, Treasury officials asked the Minister of Finance's office how they should engage with agencies with live pay equity claims, who knew nothing of the ongoing discussions regarding the future state of pay equity. It was agreed that, if asked, they would let agencies know there was 'work going on in the background regarding pay equity, but that no decisions have been made at this stage'," the committee said.

Human rights laws and international conventions

The committee said it scrutinised a document dump the government released on the changes, and did not believe Cabinet ministers were fully briefed on human rights implications of the law.

A Cabinet paper from May 2025, had paragraphs on compliance with international standards redacted, the committee said.

It said one of its submitters, Dame Judy McGregor, argued the 2025 Act conflicted with the Human Rights Act 1993, which prohibited sex discrimination.

Unions claimed the changes breached the Bill of Rights under section 19, freedom from discrimination, and argued the amendments "disproportionately disadvantage female-dominated occupations, amounting to sex-based discrimination", the committee said.

The committee said the law changes also breached a series of international conventions New Zealand was a party to, including International Covenants on Civil and Political, and Economic and Social Rights, and the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The committee said Article 11 of CEDAW guaranteed women's rights to equal remuneration for work of equal value.

"This is breached because the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 removes or delays pay equity claims and denies effective remedies to women whose work is undervalued."

This was "especially the case" where employers and unions had already agreed work was being undervalued, including three claims for care and support workers, claims for probation officers and senior probation officers, Plunket and hospice nurses and administrators, the report said.

Committee recommendation: Independent pay equity unit established

The committee made a wide range of detailed recommendations in its report, including that the 2025 act be repealed, and the government establish and resource an independent pay equity unit to look at future claims.

Its report said the unit should contain specialists trained in interviewing for claims, as well as analysts and researchers to track cost benefits.

The unit would be designed to assist small and medium businesses to undertake job evaluation proactively and provide "hands on" technical support for a claim.

"This should reduce or eliminate the need for employers and unions to spend tens of thousands on lawyers and experts or be slow to progress due to resource constraints," the committee said.

Law 'simpler and more robust' - government

In response to some of the criticisms the People's Select Committee put forward, Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden said people were free to disagree with the changes.

"Members of the public - including former MPs - are free to hold their own opinions and publish their own material.

"As I said at the time, equal pay is here to stay, and a pay equity system remains.

"The new system is already processing claims under the new law. The government has made the law simpler and more robust."

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