Pay Equity

Protect Pay Equity!

Low-paid women across health-care, education and many other sectors were devastated on 8 May, after Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke Van Velden announced the Government was halting all current pay equity claims — and making it harder to lodge new ones.

Pay Equity means  equal pay for work of equal value

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) is a leading advocate for pay equity, taking action to end gender-based pay discrimination.

For decades, roles predominantly held by women have been undervalued and underpaid. This includes nurses, nurse practitioners, health care assistants, care and support and aged care workers, as well as administrative staff in the health sector and other workplaces and industries.

Ending discriminatory pay practices and achieving pay equity across all health sectors is a national priority championed by NZNO.

What is Pay Equity?

Pay equity is sometimes confused with pay parity and equal pay but they are not the same.

Pay equity is getting the same pay for different work which has the same/similar level of skill, responsibility, and effort. It's about ensuring people get paid the same for work of equal value.

Pay parity is the aligning of pay and conditions of the same or similar workforces across different employers, organisations, and workplaces.

Equal pay, meanwhile, refers to the same pay for the same or similar work done by people regardless of gender with the same or similar experience. This can be based on subjective information, such as Job Descriptions.

NZNO Pay Equity Claims 

NZNO achieved an historic milestone in 2023 with the Pay Equity Claim Settlement under the Equal Pay Act for nurses and healthcare assistants employed by Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand (formerly District Health Boards). Three years on this settled claim is being reviewed which is a requirement of the Equal Pay Act to ensure that the gender pay gap does not recur.

This work is far from complete and our campaign continues with pay equity claims raised on behalf of nurses and other workers in a range of sectors and employers:

Pay Equity Evaluation: Comparing Roles 

A pay equity claim is investigated on the basis that the employers agree that the claim is “arguable”. At the commencement of a pay equity claim investigation 'arguability' is a light touch not committing to an outcome, but agreement to a work assessment.

The work of claimants is evaluated using what’s called a work assessment tool – a fair, rigorous, and transparent evaluation process that enables comparisons of non-identical roles and occupations.

More than a job evaluation, work assessments are a deep dive into the work that is actually done, the full picture of the skills, tasks, and responsibilities, not just the job title or what the job description says the role is.

Representative role holders take part in an extensive interview and the (anonymised) responses are reviewed and scored by a panel representing employers and worker representatives from the union that raises the claim. The process gives a more comprehensive understanding of the work and responsibilities of a given role.

Te Orowaru

Te Orowaru is the work assessment tool used for NZNO-raised Pay Equity claims. Te Orowaru is co-designed by the Public Services Commission Pay Equity Taskforce in collaboration with NZCTU and affiliate agencies (NZNO, PSA, NZEI, TEU PPTA, E Tū and CTU Rūnanga) as well as cultural experts.

The work assessment looks at a range of factors grouped into four broad areas:

  • Skills and Knowledge
  • Responsibilities
  • Effort
  • Working conditions

Factor Families

Pay Equity Process

The pay equity process is undertaken in four phases:

  • Raising the claim
  • Assessing the claim
  • Setting the claim
  • Reviewing the claim

PE Process Arrow

To understand the status of each Pay Equity Claim, please visit the claims page via the links above. And please check back for updates!

Questions? Email us at  [email protected]