Controversial reforms to require evidence of historic undervaluation for pay equity claims
The New Zealand Parliament passed on Wednesday the controversial amendments to the country's Equal Pay Act, which were introduced under urgency in the same week, according to reports.
The legislation was passed by government parties at around 7:45 pm, while all opposition parties opposed it, Radio New Zealand reported.
"Every New Zealander should be paid fairly, and that means women and men should be paid the same for work that is of equal value. That's the noble intention behind pay equity legislation," said Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden in a statement on Facebook.
"Today, that purpose has been restored by the changes we have made to ensure that the process of raising and resolving pay equity claims is more robust, workable, and sustainable."
Under the amendments, the government wants to require evidence to ensure that there are reasonable grounds to believe that work is historically and currently undervalued.
It is also raising the threshold of "predominantly performed by female employees" from 60% to 70% and requiring that this has been the case for at least 10 consecutive years.
Other changes include:
"These changes will mean the pay equity claim process is workable and sustainable," van Velden said in introducing the amendments earlier this week.
"There are often significant costs involved with pay equity settlements which can involve large workforces (e.g. around 94,000 people for the teachers claim) and we need to ensure the process to raise and resolve claims is robust."
The amendments come as the government seeks to address issues surrounding the Equal Pay Act, which van Velden said is "not working as intended."
"Claims have been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and there have been very broad claims where it is difficult to tell whether differences in pay are due to sex-based discrimination or other factors," she said.
"The Government is committed to addressing these issues. The new and improved pay equity system will provide greater confidence that genuine pay equity issues will be correctly identified and addressed."
But the changes mean that current pay equity claims in New Zealand will be discontinued. However, new claims may be raised under the amended Act if they meet the new requirements.
The New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW NZ) said discontinuing current pay equity claims is "detrimental to women."
"The government has now made it harder to access economic justice for women, given that the current pay equity claim process is already lengthy and complex," said BPW NZ president Janet Gibb in a statement.
"This move is a step backwards for gender equality in the workplace and risks entrenching inequality at a time when we should be accelerating progress."
But employers previously said they support the amendments to the Act.
"BusinessNZ supports a review of the settings for pay equity claims, in the interests of fairness and a more balanced economy," said chief executive Katherine Rich in a statement.
In supporting the changes, BusinessNZ cited challenges in the private sector to meet recent pay rates after increases in public health sector remuneration, which have led to losing staff and suffering from industrial action.
"These outcomes indicate that the pay equity process needs attention," Rich said.
"Current problems include unclear evidence for some pay equity claims, a lack of transparency around choice of comparators for the pay equity process, and insufficient incentives for the bargaining parties to resolve pay equity claims themselves, without recourse to the government."
