Summarised by Centrist
The government has passed urgent legislation dismantling New Zealand’s current pay equity regime, extinguishing 33 active claims and narrowing the scope for future ones.
Gender-based claims will still be permitted, but only in occupations that have been at least 70% female-dominated for the past decade – with stricter job comparison rules and new consideration of whether employers can afford higher wage bills.
The legislation was passed under urgency, bypassing select committee review. MPs reportedly saw the bill’s details just hours before debate. Despite criticism of the process, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon defended the move, saying it would protect taxpayers from runaway liabilities: “We’re absolutely committed to fairness in the workplace, but we also have a duty to ensure government spending is sustainable. These changes will save billions.”
Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden said the original regime had seen cases where library assistants are being compared to engineers.
Unions were quick to condemn the decision, having used the regime to push sweeping pay claims.
Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons called it “a dark day for New Zealand women.”
Former caregiver Kristine Bartlett, whose 2013 court case helped launch the current system, told the Herald: “It’s hurting, it’s really hurting… Nobody is given a chance to stand up and say anything – it’s just done.”
The government says the new system will restore discipline to pay equity claims and avoid open-ended liabilities – while still allowing genuine undervaluation to be challenged under clearer, narrower criteria.
Editor’s note: The term “pay equity” is often misunderstood. It does not mean equal pay for men and women doing the same job – that’s already required by law.
Instead, it involves comparing jobs that are different but subjectively claimed to be of equal value, often on highly subjective grounds. These comparisons – such as between librarians and engineers – are inherently arbitrary and contested.
Pay equity claims are designed only to lift women’s pay, never men’s. The process has become a textbook case of identity politics dressed up as economic reform.
