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Social Security Act 2018

Factors affecting benefits - Factors affecting benefits - Factors affecting benefit: voluntary unemployment or loss of employment through misconduct, etc

228: MSD’s options in case of misconduct

You could also call this:

“What MSD can do if you lose your job for doing something wrong”

If you lose your job because of misconduct, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has two extra choices they can make about your benefit:

  1. MSD can decide that the basic rule about losing your benefit shouldn’t apply to you.

  2. MSD can let you keep getting your benefit, but you might have to pay it back later. This would happen if a court or another official group decides that you really did do something wrong at work.

If MSD asks you to pay back the benefit, you will owe that money to the government. MSD can use special rules to get the money back from 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=DLM6783599.

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Part 4 Factors affecting benefits
Factors affecting benefits: Factors affecting benefit: voluntary unemployment or loss of employment through misconduct, etc

228MSD’s options in case of misconduct

  1. If the basic rule applies to a person (P) because of misconduct, MSD has 2 additional options:

  2. MSD may decide that the basic rule should not apply to P; or
    1. MSD may decide that the benefit should be paid to P, or paid without reduction, subject to the condition that MSD may require P to repay the benefit or part of it if a court or person or body authorised by law to determine the matter determines the misconduct to be proved.

      1. Any amount that MSD requires P to repay under subsection (1)(b) is a debt due to the Crown under regulations made under section 444 and may be recovered from P under regulations made under section 444.

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