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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Employment Relations Act 2000

General provisions - Powers

232: Compilation of wages and time record

You could also call this:

“Creating a record of work hours and pay when the original is missing”

If you’re an employer and you don’t show a Labour Inspector your wages and time record when they ask for it, the Inspector can tell you to make one. They will give you a written notice that says you need to create a record and give them a copy.

The notice will tell you which employee the record is for and what time period it should cover. It will also tell you when you need to finish making the record and give it to the Inspector. You’ll have at least 30 days to do this.

If you don’t do what the notice says, you can’t use your own written evidence about wages and time for that period in any court cases about this law, unless the other people in the case say it’s okay or the Employment Relations Authority lets you.

If you don’t follow the notice without a good reason, a Labour Inspector can take action against you. The Employment Relations Authority might make you pay a penalty.

When we talk about a wages and time record, we also mean the holiday and leave record that’s mentioned in section 81 of the Holidays Act 2003, if that applies to you.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM61463.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Business > Industry rules
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Part 11 General provisions
Powers

232Compilation of wages and time record

  1. Where an employer fails to produce, in response to a requirement under section 229(1)(c)(i), a wages and time record or, in response to a requirement under section 229(1)(d), a copy of a wages and time record, a Labour Inspector may, by written notice given to that employer, require that employer—

  2. to compile a wages and time record; and
    1. to deliver a written copy of the record compiled under paragraph (a) to the Labour Inspector.

      1. The notice must specify—

      2. the employee in respect of which, and the period in relation to which, the wages and time record must be compiled; and
        1. the date by which the wages and time record must be both compiled and delivered to the Labour Inspector (which date must be at least 30 days after the date of the notice).

          1. If an employer fails to comply with a notice under subsection (1), written evidence of the contents of the employer's wages and time record, in relation to the period specified in the notice, may not, in any proceedings under this Act, be produced by the employer without the consent of the other party or parties or the leave of the Authority.

          2. Every employer who, without reasonable cause, fails to comply with a notice given to that employer under subsection (1) is liable, in an action brought by a Labour Inspector, to a penalty under this Act imposed by the Authority.

          3. In this section, a wages and time record, if applicable, includes a holiday and leave record kept under section 81 of the Holidays Act 2003.

          Notes
          • Section 232(4): amended, on , by section 67 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).
          • Section 232(5): added, on , by section 91(2) of the Holidays Act 2003 (2003 No 129).