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Employment Relations Act 2000

Preliminary provisions - Interpretation

6: Meaning of employee

You could also call this:

“This explains who counts as a worker and who doesn't in the eyes of the law.”

In this law, an employee is someone of any age who works for an employer and gets paid for it under a work agreement. This includes people who work from home and people who intend to work. However, it doesn’t include volunteers who don’t expect to get paid and don’t receive any reward for their work.

If there’s confusion about whether someone is an employee, a court or the Authority will look at the real nature of the relationship between the worker and the employer. They will consider all relevant information, including what the people involved intended. However, they won’t rely solely on how the people describe their relationship.

These rules don’t change anything in the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 or the Sharemilking Agreements Act 1937. They also don’t apply to screen production workers as defined in the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022.

A court can declare whether someone is an employee under this law or other specified laws. This can happen if a union, a Labour Inspector, or other people apply for such a declaration. However, the person in question must either be the one applying or must agree in writing to someone else applying. The employer must also have a chance to be heard.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM58619.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Business > Industry rules
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Part 2 Preliminary provisions
Interpretation

6Meaning of employee

  1. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, employee—

  2. means any person of any age employed by an employer to do any work for hire or reward under a contract of service; and
    1. includes—
      1. a homeworker; or
        1. a person intending to work; but
        2. excludes a volunteer who—
          1. does not expect to be rewarded for work to be performed as a volunteer; and
            1. receives no reward for work performed as a volunteer.

              1. Repealed

              2. In deciding for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) whether a person is employed by another person under a contract of service, the court or the Authority (as the case may be) must determine the real nature of the relationship between them.

              3. For the purposes of subsection (2), the court or the Authority—

              4. must consider all relevant matters, including any matters that indicate the intention of the persons; and
                1. is not to treat as a determining matter any statement by the persons that describes the nature of their relationship.

                  1. Subsections (2) and (3) do not limit or affect the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 or the Sharemilking Agreements Act 1937.

                  2. Nothing in this section applies to determine the employment status of a person who falls within the meaning of screen production worker in section 11 of the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022.

                  3. The court may, on the application of a union, a Labour Inspector, or 1 or more other persons, by order declare whether the person or persons named in the application are—

                  4. employees under this Act; or
                    1. employees or workers within the meaning of any of the Acts specified in section 223(1).

                      1. The court must not make an order under subsection (5) in relation to a person unless—

                      2. the person—
                        1. is the applicant; or
                          1. has consented in writing to another person applying for the order; and
                          2. the other person who is alleged to be the employer of the person is a party to the application or has an opportunity to be heard on the application.

                            1. Repealed
                            Notes
                            • Section 6(1)(d): repealed, on , by section 101(1) of the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (2022 No 52).
                            • Section 6(1A): repealed, on , by section 101(1) of the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (2022 No 52).
                            • Section 6(4): amended, on , by section 173 of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 (2008 No 66).
                            • Section 6(4A): inserted, on , by section 101(2) of the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (2022 No 52).
                            • Section 6(7): repealed, on , by section 101(3) of the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 (2022 No 52).