Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

 Plain Language Law homepage
Back to
142H: Chief executive or Labour Inspector may enforce payment of pecuniary penalty
or “The boss or worker helper can make someone pay a fine if they break the rules at work.”
You could also call this:

“You have one year to ask for a money punishment after someone breaks the work rules.”

You need to know about a rule for when someone can ask for a money penalty in work-related matters. If a Labour Inspector finds out that someone broke the rules, they have 12 months to ask for this penalty. The 12 months starts from the earlier of two times: when the Labour Inspector first knew about the rule-breaking, or when they should have reasonably known about it. This means they can’t wait too long to take action after they find out about a problem.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

Next up: 142J: Court may make compensation orders

or “The judge can order someone to pay money to a worker they have wronged.”
Next

Part 9A Additional provisions relating to enforcement of employment standards
Pecuniary penalty orders

142ILimitation period for actions for pecuniary penalty orders

  1. An application for a pecuniary penalty order under this Part must be made within 12 months after the earlier of—

  2. the date when the breach first became known to a Labour Inspector; and
    1. the date when the breach should reasonably have become known to a Labour Inspector.

      Notes
      • Section 142I: inserted, on , by section 19 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).