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Employment Relations Act 2000

Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement - Recovery of wages

130: Wages and time record

You could also call this:

“Employers must keep a detailed record of each worker's job information and pay”

Your employer must keep a record of your work details. This record is called the wages and time record. It must include your name, age if you’re under 20, address, the type of work you do, and whether you’re employed under an individual or collective agreement. If you’re under a collective agreement, the record must show the agreement’s title, when it ends, and your job classification.

The record must show how many hours you work each day in a pay period and what you’re paid for those hours. It must also include your wages for each pay period and how they’re calculated. If you take any employment relations education leave, that needs to be recorded too.

Your employer can keep this record in writing or in a way that’s easy to access and turn into writing. If you have regular hours and pay, your employer can just record these usual hours in the wages and time record, your employment agreement, or another document used in your normal work.

If you’re paid a salary, your usual hours include any extra hours you work as part of your job agreement. But your employer still needs to record any additional hours that are necessary to show they’re following the law.

You, or someone allowed to represent you, can ask to see or get a copy of your record for the past 6 years. Your employer must provide this right away.

If your employer doesn’t follow these rules, they might have to pay a penalty. A Labour Inspector can also take action to recover this penalty.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM60375.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Business > Industry rules
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Part 9 Personal grievances, disputes, and enforcement
Recovery of wages

130Wages and time record

  1. Every employer must at all times keep a record (called the wages and time record) showing, in the case of each employee employed by that employer,—

  2. the name of the employee:
    1. the employee's age, if under 20 years of age:
      1. the employee's postal address:
        1. the kind of work on which the employee is usually employed:
          1. whether the employee is employed under an individual employment agreement or a collective agreement:
            1. in the case of an employee employed under a collective agreement, the title and expiry date of the agreement, and the employee's classification under it:
              1. the number of hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours:
                1. the wages paid to the employee each pay period and the method of calculation:
                  1. details of any employment relations education leave taken under Part 7:
                    1. such other particulars as may be prescribed.

                      1. The wages and time record must be kept—

                      2. in written form; or
                        1. in a form or in a manner that allows the information in the record to be easily accessed and converted into written form.

                          1. If an employee’s number of hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours are agreed and the employee works those hours (the usual hours), it is sufficient compliance with subsection (1)(g) if those usual hours and pay are stated in—

                          2. the wages and time record; or
                            1. the employment agreement; or
                              1. a roster or any other document or record used in the normal course of the employee’s employment.

                                1. In subsection (1B), the usual hours of an employee who is remunerated by way of salary include any additional hours worked by the employee in accordance with the employee’s employment agreement.

                                2. Despite subsection (1C), the employer must record any additional hours worked that need to be recorded to enable the employer to comply with the employer’s general obligation under section 4B(1).

                                3. Every employer must, upon request by an employee or by a person authorised under section 236 to represent an employee, provide that employee or person immediately with access to or a copy of or an extract from any part or all of the wages and time record relating to the employment of the employee by the employer at any time in the preceding 6 years at which the employer was obliged to keep such a record.

                                4. Repealed

                                5. Every employer who fails to comply with any requirement of this section is liable to a penalty imposed by the Authority.

                                6. An action to recover a penalty under subsection (4) may also be brought by a Labour Inspector.

                                Compare
                                • 1991 No 22 s 47
                                Notes
                                • Section 130(1)(g): replaced, on , by section 11(1) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(1A): inserted, on , by section 11(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(1B): inserted, on , by section 11(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(1C): inserted, on , by section 11(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(1D): inserted, on , by section 11(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(3): repealed, on , by section 11(3) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
                                • Section 130(5): inserted, on , by section 11(4) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).