Knowledge On 6 May 2025, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke van Velden, announced that the Government is amending the Equal Pay Act 1972 (“the Act”) to limit the scope of pay equity claims, setting higher thresholds, and requiring more evidence of inequities. These changes are being fast-tracked under urgency without the requirement for public consultation.
If enacted, these changes would be a backwards step in closing gender, Māori pacific, and ethnic pay gaps. This is the latest in a string of recent announcements by the Government, which undermine and curtail workers’ rights.
The Equal Pay Act 1972
The Act was introduced to ensure that women were paid the same as men for doing the same job. Following a landmark Court of Appeal decision, the Act was amended to allow for pay equity claims to be raised outside of court in a process similar to bargaining under the Employment Relations Act 2000. These claims can be raised in sectors where work is, or has been, predominantly performed by women and is currently or has been undervalued due to social, cultural, or historical factors.
The Government’s Proposed Amendments
The Government’s proposed amendments include:
- Increasing the threshold to bring a claim -the meaning of work “predominantly performed by female employees” would raise from 60% to 70%, and require that these percentages have been consistent for at least 10 consecutive years.
- Placing more obligations on employees – employees would have to provide evidence identifying reasonable grounds that the work has been historically undervalued, and continues to be.
- Providing further guidance on the use of comparators – this will amend work performed by men that is different to the claimant’s work but has similar skills, responsibilities, levels of experience, or working conditions to the claimant’s work.
- Extending settlement timeframes. This will provide employers with different ways to meet their pay equity obligations while keeping their business sustainable.
These amendments would be retrospective and discontinue all current pay equity claims sending many groups of workers back to the drawing board undermining years of progress.