Everyone

Contact us

Get in touch with us if you have a general query or to get our help with an employment problem.

Pages you might find helpful

Find out about entitlements to annual holidays, public holidays, sick leave, bereavement leave, parental leave and other types of leave.

Leave and holidays

Find out how to prevent and resolve employment problems.

How to resolve problems

Find out about the fair process that needs to be followed when employers plan to make changes that could affect employees’ jobs.

Restructuring and workplace change

Redundancy

Find out about the fair process that needs to be followed to take disciplinary action.

Disciplinary action

Find out about minimum wage rates that apply to all employees aged 16 and over.

Minimum wage

Get in touch with us

By phone

Call us on 0800 20 90 20. If you are outside New Zealand, you can call us on +64 9 969 2950.

Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8.00am to 5.30pm excluding public holidays.

We can't interpret employment agreements, provide legal advice or bring personal grievances on your behalf. For legal advice, please consult a lawyer or visit your local community law centres. 

Free legal help - Community law(external link)

Languages other than English

You can use a free telephone interpreting service called Connecting Now. Interpreters are available for over 180 different languages.

Call us after 9.00am, ask for ‘Connecting Now’ and tell us which language you speak. Hold the line and we'll get an interpreter within a couple of minutes.

Deaf or hearing impaired

If you are deaf or hearing impaired, after 9.00am we can use the NZ Relay Service to provide information.

New Zealand Relay(external link)

By email

Email us to ask a general question or provide feedback about our website.

Email us

Get help with an employment issue

Early Resolution

Early Resolution is a free phone-based service that helps resolve a workplace issue early, quickly and informally. Find out more about early resolution and request a call back from one of our team.

Early Resolution

Report an employment breach

Anyone who sees or suspects a breach of employment standards can report it. This may include issues around minimum wage, holiday pay, leave entitlements, wage deductions and record-keeping.

Find out more about how you can report a breach.

Labour Inspectorate complaints

Report migrant exploitation

Migrant workers have the same minimum employment rights as New Zealand workers. If you, or someone you know, is being exploited in the workplace, you can report it to us.

Find out more about migrant exploitation and how to report it.

Migrant exploitation

Request mediation or submit a record of settlement

Mediation is a voluntary, confidential, and safe way for employers and employees to talk about work-related problems with the help of an independent mediator.

Find out more about mediation and apply for our free mediation service.

Mediation

Our addresses

Employment New Zealand
PO Box 1473
Wellington 6011

Employment New Zealand
15 Stout Street
Wellington 6011

Kordia House
162 Victoria Street West
Auckland 1010

PO Box 92061
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142

Level 1
205 Victoria Street
Te Aro
Wellington 6011

PO Box 10413
Wellington 6143

Grand Central
Level 2
161 Cashel Street
Christchurch Central
Christchurch 8011

Westpac House
430 Victoria Street
Hamilton Central
Hamilton 3204

State Insurance Building
61-75 Rangitikei Street
Palmerston North 4410

Collective employment agreements

After collective bargaining negotiations are complete you must send us a signed PDF copy of the ratified agreement and any other document referred to or incorporated into the collective agreement (unless publicly available). You can send these using the Workplace Online Portal, or by email or post.

Workplace Online Portal (external link)

Email: employmentagreements@mbie.govt.nz

Strikes and lockout notices

You must send strike or lockout records and notifications to us by email or post.

strike.notices@mbie.govt.nz

Strikes and lockouts

Media queries

For media queries please email media@mbie.govt.nz

When to contact other agencies

For any queries about workplace health and safety please contact WorkSafe New Zealand. 

Contact us | WorkSafe New Zealand(external link)

Employees and self-employed people may be able get a government-funded parental leave payment while they’re not working and are caring for a new child.

Paid parental leave - Inland Revenue(external link)

For any queries about immigration or work visas please contact Immigration New Zealand

Contact us - Immigration New Zealand(external link)

For any queries about taxes or KiwiSaver please contact Inland Revenue.

Contact us - Inland Revenue(external link)

Before requesting official information please check our website. What you are looking for may already be available online.

Requesting information from the government - New Zealand Government(external link)

Official Information Act requests - Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment(external link)

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