by Tim Costley, MP for Otaki
I want to try and clearly explain what’s really happening, and why to cover of the questions I’ve had last week.
Firstly, equal pay (a man and woman both in the exact same job like two hospital cleaners) has been enshrined in law since 1972. NOTHING has changed with equal pay and this is still law. So a male hospital cleaner and female hospital cleaner MUST get paid the same.
Pay equity is where jobs that are predominantly filled by women, get paid the same as comparable jobs that are predominantly filled by men. So perhaps a female hospital cleaner should get paid the same as a male hospital security guard.
The pay equity legislation was started by National in 2017 but looked quite different in 2020 and resulted in claims that have often drifted away from being about sex-based undervaluation. Instead, they’ve become focused on broader labour market factors (like the cost of groceries and other market forces). Comparisons have been drawn between roles that are vastly different, for example nurses being compared with fishery officers, admin staff with engineers, and social workers with air traffic controllers. One claim included over 90 different roles. It seems clear that the core purpose (genuine claims where women are under-valued) is being missed.
That’s why changes were made:
To ensure that comparisons are relevant and reflect genuine discrimination,
To streamline the process with clear, evidence-based tools,
To maintain the ability of women workers to submit claims,
To ensure the system is fair, focused, and doing what it’s meant to do: delivering real outcomes for women facing genuine pay discrimination.
Please note:
Equal pay is not being scrapped, there are no changes here.
 Pay equity is not being scrapped, the changes are to the system to maintain the original focus on undervaluation of women.
 All women workers can still raise and settle pay equity claims. That does not change.
Any current claim that meets the requirements can still be submitted and settled, but it does need to be based on evidence, sensible comparisons, and sex-based undervaluation.
In NZ, Pay Equity started with the Care and Support Workers court case in 2012, and National introduced the first legislation to start Pay Equity resolution in 2017, and set aside $2bn for Care and Support Workers.
That original case back in 2012 would still go ahead and be settled under the changes we’ve made. That is the entire point of it and what we want: to value women whatever career they choose.