Pay equity process

Requesting or submitting pay equity information

Use the Workplace Online Portal to request pay equity comparator information, submit pay equity comparator information, and submit pay equity settlements to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

The portal is a secure way for you to submit information directly to MBIE for storage in the central repository.

Workplace Online Portal (external link)

Process for pay equity claims

Amendments to the Equal Pay Act 1972, which came into effect on 6 November 2020, introduced a new process for individual employees and unions to raise a pay equity claim directly with an employer for work, which may be subject to systemic sex-based discrimination. The new process is similar to New Zealand’s existing employment relations framework.

A new framework for pay equity in New Zealand [PDF 460MB] (external link)

'Pay equity - guide to good practice' is a resource to help employees, employers, and unions understand the pay equity claims process.

Pay equity - guide to good practice [PDF 598KB]

Under the Act, employees, employers and unions will negotiate in good faith, and will have access to mediation and resolution services, if dispute resolution support is needed.

Good faith

Mediation

Improving data collection

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has made some changes to the way we collect pay equity settlements, comparator information and collective agreements. To achieve this, we have released the Workplace Online Portal (the portal) and the Employment Services (ES) Repository (the repository).

To improve the data collection process, the portal has been released for:

• employers
• employees (individual or groups)
• representatives
• unions

The portal as a secure way to request and submit information directly to MBIE.

The repository is a secure storage location for pay equity settlements and comparator information, collective agreements, screen industry workers contracts, fair pay agreements.

Submitting pay equity settlements

Under the Equal Pay Act 1972 (as amended in 2020), the Chief Executive of MBIE is required by law to hold pay equity settlements and related data.

Once a pay equity settlement is signed and ratified, as soon as practicable, employers must send to the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE):

• a copy of the settlement
• any other document referred to in, or incorporated into, the settlement (unless publicly available)

Please send your pay equity settlement and reference documents to MBIE using the Workplace Online Portal.

Workplace Online Portal (external link)

Alternatively, you can also send them to MBIE by email and post.

Contact us

Your data will be held by MBIE in the repository. MBIE may only use it for statistical and analytical purposes.

Sharing and requesting information about past claims

Information from past pay equity claims can be useful when working through the pay equity process for a new claim. The repository for pay equity comparator data has information from past claims.

The repository contains data received from 2020 onwards and includes:

• job descriptions
• anonymised wage and salary data
• summary job profiles
• anonymised interview transcripts
• general areas of responsibility and skills
• workforce analysis
• evidence reports

Pay Equity Comparator Information available in the repository [PDF 106KB]

More information will be added to the repository over time. We encourage those involved in the claims process to consider sharing their information by contributing to the repository. This will help others advance future claims by providing easy access to comparator information.

Requesting pay equity information

Pay equity comparator information is employment information held by MBIE to assist parties in a pay equity settlement claim. The information is stored by MBIE in the repository and has been contributed by other pay equity settlement claimants.

If you would like to request pay equity information from the repository, you can do this using the Workplace Online Portal or by emailing administratorpayquitydata@mbie.govt.nz.

Workplace Online Portal (external link)

To access the data, you need to be a part of an ongoing pay equity settlement claim and disclose any identified conflicts of interest. All pay equity comparator information provided by MBIE needs to remain confidential and not shared with a third party.

Note that the other party to your claim may also request the same comparator data as you.

Your request may go to the Pay Equity Reference Group to review any conflicts of interest. They will then decide whether the information should be shared.

Submitting pay equity information

If you would like to submit pay equity information, you can do this using the Workplace Online Portal or by emailing administratorpayquitydata@mbie.govt.nz.

Workplace Online Portal (external link)

The anonymous information you provide will help others advance future claims by providing easy access to comparator information.

For your data to be able to be used as comparator data in a pay equity settlement claim, it is essential:

• Any private information about an individual must be anonymised so that individuals cannot be identified.
• Each individual included in your data has consented to their anonymised information being shared with other claimants.

MBIE will review all data submitted to ensure it is appropriately anonymised. If we identify further information that needs to be redacted for privacy reasons, we will review with the submitter before the data is made available for other pay equity settlement claimants.

Read more information about privacy principles - Privacy Commissioner (external link)

To share the information with others, consent forms should be provided with your submission.

If your data is not anonymised or if consent is not given to share the data, then MBIE will hold it in the repository but not share it with anyone that makes a request for it. If this is the case, we will contact you and try to anonymise the data or get any consents needed so that it can be shared.

If your data is shared as part of a pay equity information request, the requestor will need to agree to the data use and privacy statement as part of the submission process.