A coalition of 20 organisations has lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations, asking it to investigate whether the Government’s changes to New Zealand’s pay equity laws amount to systemic discrimination against women.
The complaint has been filed by Pay Equity Coalition Aotearoa (PECA), which includes the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission.
Read the full Human Rights Commission statement here
It comes one year after the Government passed legislation under urgency that cancelled existing pay equity claims and introduced stricter thresholds for future claims.
The cancelled claims covered more than 180,000 workers across sectors including care and disability support, education, health, and community services — the majority of them women.
PECA spokesperson Dame Judy McGregor says the changes have stalled progress for workers in historically undervalued roles.
“These are roles that have been chronically undervalued for decades. A year on, workers are no closer to justice,” she says.
The coalition argues the legislative changes have made the pay equity system significantly harder to access and may breach New Zealand’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which New Zealand is a signatory.
The complaint also highlights the disproportionate impact on wāhine Māori, Pacific women, migrant women, disabled women, and older women workers, who continue to experience some of the largest pay gaps.
Te Uru Tāngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion Chief Executive Maretha Smit says the issue goes beyond individual claims and reflects broader questions about how Aotearoa values work traditionally performed by women.
“Pay equity has always been about correcting historic undervaluation — the legacy of assumptions about the worth of ‘women’s work’ that continue to shape pay, workforce participation, and the sustainability of essential services,” says Smit.
She says weakening or removing the mechanisms used to address pay equity can have impacts far beyond the workplace.
“When those mechanisms are dismantled or weakened, the effects reach well beyond individual claims. They show up in workforce shortages, in the strain on critical services, and in the economic security of the women, whānau and communities who rely on them.”
The coalition’s complaint asks the United Nations to investigate whether the law changes have created structural barriers to equal pay for work of equal value.