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Employment Relations Act 2000

Strikes and lockouts - Lawfulness of strikes and lockouts

84: Lawful strikes and lockouts on grounds of safety or health

You could also call this:

“Workers can stop work, or bosses can stop workers from working, if they think it's not safe or healthy to work.”

You can take part in a strike or lockout if you have good reasons to think it’s needed for safety or health. If you’re an employee, you can go on strike if you believe it’s necessary to protect your safety or health at work. If you’re an employer, you can lock out your workers if you believe it’s necessary for safety or health reasons. In both cases, you need to have reasonable grounds for your belief. This means you should have some solid reasons or evidence to back up your decision to strike or lock out.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM59975.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
Health and wellbeing > Public health
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83: Lawful strikes and lockouts related to collective bargaining, or

“Workers and bosses can stop work if they're talking about making a group work agreement.”

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85: Effect of lawful strike or lockout, or

“Lawful strikes or lockouts protect workers and employers from legal trouble”

Part 8 Strikes and lockouts
Lawfulness of strikes and lockouts

84Lawful strikes and lockouts on grounds of safety or health

  1. Participation in a strike or lockout is lawful if the employees who strike have, or the employer who locks out has, reasonable grounds for believing that the strike or lockout is justified on the grounds of safety or health.

Compare
  • 1991 No 22 s 71(1)