Employees who discuss or disclose their salaries or wages have increased protection from adverse treatment, under a change to Employment Relations Act.
The Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill, creates new grounds for personal grievance if an employee has experienced negative consequences because they discussed their remuneration with someone else.
The bill gained royal assent and became law on 26 August 2025.
New grounds for personal grievance
The law change creates a ground for personal grievance if an employer (or a representative of the employer) engages "in adverse conduct for a remuneration disclosure reason".
This means that in the case an employer dismisses or disadvantages (or threatens to) an employee because they disclosed or discussed their remuneration with any other person, the employee would have grounds to take a grievance against their employer.
Employment agreements often contain provisions that prevent employees from discussing or disclosing their salary, wages or other conditions to third parties. While such clauses aren't prohibited, the change means employers could face legal action for penalising an employee who discusses their pay or asks other employee about their pay.
Reasons for the change
The law change brings New Zealand into line with other countries (such as Australia, the UK, and Canada) that have prohibited adverse action for pay discussions because it can lead to pay secrecy and discriminatory outcomes, especially for women.
The gender pay gap in New Zealand is currently 8.2 percent - meaning women earn on average 8.2 percent less than men for similar work (the gaps are even larger for Māori and Pasifika women).
While there has been no indication New Zealand will follow other countries, such as Australia, in introducing mandatory remuneration reporting, the Employee Remuneration Disclosure Bill aims to make it easier to identify and remedy pay discrimination on an individual employee level, by protecting employees who choose to discuss or disclose their earnings to others.
What MyHR recommends
Under the new law, employers aren't prohibited from including a clause in employment agreements (or company policies) that restricts employees from discussing pay information. However, any such clause is now unenforceable as you are no longer able to discipline people who discuss their pay with each other.
We recommend removing reference to pay information being confidential from all new employment agreements (for both new and current employees). You can retain pay confidentiality clauses in existing agreements, but you are legally required to act in accordance with the new law.
If you need any help drafting clear, legally-robust employment agreements or reviewing any processes that relate to pay confidentiality, reach out to our expert HR team.
