• All existing pay equity claims are discontinued.
• All claims, including the 12 live claims to which NZNO is party to on behalf of its members, that were in progress prior to the Amendments will need to be raised again compliant with the new ‘rules’.
• The three Care and Support Claims are not able to be re-raised until 2027 because the previous Support Workers Pay Equity settlement was reached in 2017 and therefore unable to be re-raised for 10 years.
• Review clauses for settled claims are also now unenforceable. This includes the Pay Equity Claim for Te Whatu Ora employed nurses and healthcare assistants. Reviews for the maintenance of pay equity settlements no longer exist under the Amendments meaning that pay equity claims can now only be re-raised 10 years after a settlement.
• Higher Threshold for pre-dominantly female: Threshold for claim is now 70% of the workforce is female, previously it was 60%.
• New pay equity claims must meet a threshold of ‘merit’ rather than the previous lighter touch ‘arguability’ standard.
• The evidence of merit must be provided at the point of raising the claim.
• The employer party is given the right to decide if the claim meets the requirements of merit.
• Employers are able to opt out of a multi-employer claim without needing to provide a reason.
• Restricting comparators: a new hierarchy of comparators has been introduced. In the first instance comparators should be a male workforce employed by the same employer, if there is none then another employer who employs workers who do the same or similar work and if none, then comparators may be used if they are employed in the same industry, sector, or occupation. The Amendments allow the employer to determine appropriate comparators.
• Settled claims cannot be used as comparators unless they were settled after the May 2025 Amendments. (By way of example, this means that Te Whatu Ora Nurses settled claim can no longer be a comparator for nurses in other parts of the health sector).
• Parties must assess ‘market factors’ that potentially affect remuneration.

While pay equity claims can still be raised in sectors where work is or has been predominantly performed by women and the work is currently or has been undervalued due to social, cultural, or historical factors, there is a higher bar and more challenges for raising a claim.

All these changes - higher thresholds, limitation of comparators, market factors and other changes – stack the deck against workers and women workers especially and will almost certainly make the pay equity claims process longer and more complex.

Ending discriminatory pay practices and achieving pay equity across all health sectors continues to be a national priority for NZNO.