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Employment Relations Act 2000

Additional provisions relating to enforcement of employment standards - Defences relating to breach of minimum entitlement provisions

142ZC: Defences for person in breach

You could also call this:

“Ways a person can defend themselves if they break rules about paying workers fairly”

If you break a rule about minimum work rights, you can defend yourself in certain ways. You can say that you broke the rule because you trusted information someone else gave you. Or, you can say that someone else’s actions, an accident, or something you couldn’t control caused you to break the rule. If you say this, you also need to show that you tried hard to avoid breaking the rule.

These defences don’t work if you’re being asked to pay money you owe to workers because you broke a rule. Also, when you say “someone else” caused the problem, you can’t mean one of your directors, employees, or agents.

If you want to learn more about when these defences can be used, you can look at section 142ZB.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6803109.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Business > Fair trading
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142ZB: Proceedings in which defences apply, or

“This explains when you can use special reasons to defend yourself if you're accused of not giving workers what they're legally owed.”

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142ZD: Defences for person involved in breach, or

“People who help others break the law can defend themselves if they trusted wrong information or tried hard to follow the rules.”

Part 9A Additional provisions relating to enforcement of employment standards
Defences relating to breach of minimum entitlement provisions

142ZCDefences for person in breach

  1. In a proceeding referred to in section 142ZB against a person (A) for a breach of a minimum entitlement provision, it is a defence if A proves that—

  2. A's breach was due to reasonable reliance on information supplied by another person; or
    1. both of the following apply:
      1. A's breach was due to the act or default of another person, or to an accident or to some other cause beyond A's control; and
        1. A took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the breach.

        2. In a proceeding referred to in section 142ZB(d), a defence under subsection (1) does not apply to the extent that the compensation is in relation to wages or other money owed as a result of a breach of a minimum entitlement provision.

        3. For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) and (b), another person does not include a director, an employee, or an agent of A.

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