The government is making it harder to make a claim for pay equity that will cut costs, saying the current system is too loose.
There have been massive pay equity claims in recent years for nurses and resthome workers.
Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced the moves to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim, on Tuesday saying changes back in 2020 had created problems.
“Claims have been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and there have been very broad claims where it is difficult to tell whether differences in pay are due to sex-based discrimination or other factors.”
Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced the moves to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim. (Source: 1News)
Claims were concentrated in the public sector, with costs to the Crown of all settlements so far totalling $1.78 billion a year, she said.
“The changes I am proposing will significantly reduce costs to the Crown,” she said.
“The changes will discontinue current pay equity claims.”
Van Velden told Midday Report she believes in pay equity but the current thresholds were “a bit too loose”.
Asked how she ensure women were not hurt by this, the minister said “I’m a woman and I support women who work”.
“I also support removing gender based discriminations from our workforces but what I don’t support are muddied laws and unclear laws,” she said.
“So these changes are better for all women who are working where we can genuinely say hand on heart that what they are finding with their claims is genuine gender based discrimination.”
Thirty-three claims to be stopped
Van Velden told reporters at Parliament any current claims would be stopped and need to restart under the new threshold, to show “genuine” gender discrimination and make sure the comparators were right.
She gave a figure of 33 current claims that would be stopped, as the legislation was put through under urgency.
“You have librarians who’ve been comparing themselves to transport engineers. We have admin and clerical staff at Health New Zealand comparing themselves to mechanical engineers.”
Social workers had compared themselves to air traffic controllers, she added.
“We don’t believe we have that setting right.”
Any comparison would now be between female employees and male employees at the same employer, or if that was not possible, then to other similar employers.
“But you cannot go fishing for discrimination across the New Zealand workforce.”
All current settled claims would continue but the government was drawing “a line in the sand”, she said.
“We’re not stopping claims.”
‘Dark day for New Zealand women’
The nurse’s union has this year had at least 10 pay equity claims in play.
The PSA union has said pay equity claims and settlements had resulted in significant improvements in pay and working conditions for many workers.
The union said the changes would make it “impossible for people in female-dominated professions to be paid fairly”.
“Women across the country will pay the price for this,” PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
“The government’s changes today are a dark day for New Zealand women as the government says it will repeal the pay equity law and extinguish 33 existing claims in a constitutional overreach.
“The PSA is exploring all possible avenues to oppose these unconstitutional amendments and stop this attack on women. We will not be deterred in our fight to achieve pay equity for all.”
‘Shameful attack on women’
“This is a blatant and shameful attack on women,” New Zealand Nurses organisation chief executive Paul Goulter said.
“Women in workforces predominantly performed by female employees have been underpaid and undervalued for generations. That is what pay equity claims seek to rectify,” he said.
“This move by the government will widen the pay gap between men and women.”
The union had at least 10 pay current pay claims across Aged Care, Primary Health Care, Hospices, Plunket, Community Health and Laboratories, he said. These cover many nurses and support workers.
The E tū union also called the changes an attack on women and a green light to pay them less for work of equal value.
The government was pulling the rug out from under a 13-year-long fight in aged care.
“These changes are not about evidence — they are about saving money by keeping women underpaid,” national secretary Rachel Mackintosh said in a statement.
Snap rally
A number of unions have called a snap rally at Parliament at 1pm today in light of the announcement.
PSA, the Council of Trade Unions and representatives of other unions say they will be “protesting the government’s attack on women and the destruction of progress on pay equity…”
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