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Wages Protection Act 1983

11: Recovery of wages

You could also call this:

"Getting back wages taken by your employer without your okay"

Illustration for Wages Protection Act 1983

You can recover wages from your employer if they took money from you without your consent. You can do this by taking action in the Employment Relations Authority, which was established by the Employment Relations Act 2000. This can be done if your employer took money from your wages without you agreeing to it in writing.

You can also recover wages if your employer paid you in something other than money, but the law says they should have paid you in money. If you want to take action, you need to do it within six years of when the problem happened. You cannot take action if the problem happened more than two years before this law started.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM74849.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
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"Getting paid when you're not at work"

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11A: Proceedings by Labour Inspector or worker to recover arrears of wages from person involved in failure to comply, or

"Getting unpaid wages back from someone who broke the rules"

11Recovery of wages

  1. Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a worker, or a Labour Inspector on behalf of a worker, may recover from that worker's employer, by action in the Employment Relations Authority, established by the Employment Relations Act 2000, in the prescribed manner,—

  2. any deduction made (otherwise than pursuant to section 6) by that employer from wages that have been paid, or but for that deduction would have been paid, by that employer to that worker, if—
    1. that deduction was not consented to, or requested by, that worker in writing; or
      1. the making of that deduction was consented to, or requested by, that worker in writing; but the consent or request concerned was obtained by threat of dismissal, or otherwise by duress:
      2. an amount equal to any wages required by section 7 to be paid to that worker in money, if that employer paid those wages to that worker otherwise than in money.

        1. No action under subsection (1) shall be brought after the expiration of 6 years from the date on which the cause of action concerned arose.

        2. No such action shall be brought in respect of any cause of action that arose more than 2 years before the commencement of this Act.

        Compare
        • 1964 No 58 ss 4(2), 7(2), 8
        Notes
        • Section 11 heading: replaced, on , by section 8(1) of the Wages Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 12).
        • Section 11(1): amended, on , by section 8(2) of the Wages Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 12).
        • Section 11(1): amended, on , by section 240 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (2000 No 24).