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142U: No pecuniary penalty and criminal sanction or other penalty for same conduct
or “You can't be punished twice for the same wrongdoing at work.”

You could also call this:

“You can't get insurance to pay fines for breaking this law, and it's against the rules to try.”

You cannot have insurance that covers fines (called pecuniary penalties) under this law. If you try to get such insurance, it won’t work, and no court can help you with it. The law says that these kinds of insurance policies are not allowed.

You must not try to make or offer this type of insurance. You also can’t agree to pay someone else’s fines or let someone else pay your fines under this law. It’s not okay to give or receive money to cover these fines.

If you want to know more about contracts that aren’t allowed, you can look at sections 75 to 82 of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017.

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Next up: 142W: Involvement in breaches

or “This law explains who can get in trouble for helping someone break workplace rules.”

Part 9A Additional provisions relating to enforcement of employment standards
Insurance against pecuniary penalties unlawful and of no effect

142VInsurance against pecuniary penalties unlawful

  1. To the extent that an insurance policy or a contract of insurance indemnifies or purports to indemnify a person for the person's liability to pay a pecuniary penalty under this Act,—

  2. the policy or contract is of no effect; and
    1. no court or tribunal has jurisdiction to grant relief in respect of the policy or contract, whether under sections 75 to 82 of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 or otherwise.
      1. A person must not—

      2. enter into, or offer to enter into, a policy or contract described in subsection (1); or
        1. indemnify, or offer to indemnify, another person for the other person's liability to pay a pecuniary penalty under this Act; or
          1. be indemnified, or agree to be indemnified, by another person for that person's liability to pay a pecuniary penalty under this Act; or
            1. pay to another person, or receive from another person, an indemnity for a pecuniary penalty under this Act.
              Notes
              • Section 142V: inserted, on , by section 19 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).
              • Section 142V(1)(b): amended, on , by section 347 of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 (2017 No 5).