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Equal Pay Act 1972

General provisions - Notices, penalties, and enforcement

18A: Proceedings by Labour Inspector or employee concerned for penalty

You could also call this:

"What to do if someone doesn't follow the Equal Pay Act: taking action for a penalty"

If you think someone has not followed the Equal Pay Act, you can take action. You and a Labour Inspector are the only ones who can bring a case against an employer to get a penalty. The Labour Inspector can also take action against someone who has not followed the rules. You can join two or more penalty claims against the same employer in one case.

When deciding if someone should get a penalty, the Authority looks at whether they have broken rules before, like not following an improvement notice issued under section 223D of the Employment Relations Act 2000. The Authority can give a penalty, give a smaller penalty, or dismiss the case. They can also let someone pay a penalty in instalments if they cannot pay it all at once.

You must start the case within 12 months of finding out about the problem. If you get a penalty, it must be paid to the person the Authority says, or into a Crown Bank Account. The Authority decides who gets the penalty and how it is paid.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS427188.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Anti-discriminationWork and jobs > Worker rights
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18: Penalty for non-compliance, or

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Part 5General provisions
Notices, penalties, and enforcement

18AProceedings by Labour Inspector or employee concerned for penalty

  1. An Inspector and the employee concerned are the only persons who may bring an action in the Authority against an employer to recover a penalty under section 18.

  2. However, only a Labour Inspector may bring an action in the Authority against a person involved in a failure to comply in order to recover a penalty under section 18.

  3. A claim for 2 or more penalties against the same employer may be joined in the same action.

  4. A claim for a penalty may be heard in conjunction with any other claim under this Act.

  5. In determining whether to give judgment for a penalty, and the amount of that penalty, the Authority must consider whether the person against whom the penalty is sought has previously failed to comply with an improvement notice issued under section 223D of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

  6. After hearing an action for recovery of a penalty, the Authority may—

  7. give judgment for the amount claimed; or
    1. give judgment for an amount that is less than the amount claimed; or
      1. dismiss the action.

        1. The Authority may order payment of a penalty by instalments, but only if the financial position of the person paying the penalty requires it.

        2. An action for the recovery of a penalty must be commenced within 12 months after the earlier of when the cause of action became known, or should reasonably have become known, to the Labour Inspector or employee concerned.

        3. A penalty that is recovered must be paid,—

        4. if, and to the extent, ordered by the Authority, to any person the Authority specifies; or
          1. in any other case, into court and then into a Crown Bank Account.

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            Notes
            • Section 18A: inserted, on , by section 23 of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 45).