In May 2025 the New Zealand Government chose to overturn our formerly world-leading pay equity legislation. The changes had been in the works for nearly a year, and the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity (PSCPE) formed in February 2024 as an organised voice for the communities affected by the law.

Many submitters to the PSCPE reported human rights violations due to both the Equal Pay Amendment Bill’s content and its legislative process. In the report Kei te rapu te iwi: Inquiry into the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 (24 February 2026), the PSCPE described breaches of the following international treaties of which New Zealand is a member:

• International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 100,
• the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
• the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights,
• Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
• the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and
• the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

The PSCPE found that the New Zealand Government indicated no consideration of its international legal commitments under these treaties, and in some cases wilfully and knowingly acted in breach of its international legal commitments. The report's findings relating to each of these international treaty obligations are summarised below.

ILO No. 100 - Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951

New Zealand ratified ILO C100 on 3 June 1983. This Convention requires that members 'ensure the application to all workers of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value'.

The Government has acknowledged it does not know whether its changes to the pay equity framework comply with the Convention. This dismantling of what was once seen as world-leading pay equity legislation was raised by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) at the International Labour Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva in June 2025.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

New Zealand ratified ICCPR in 1978. New Zealand has also ratified the Optional Protocol, allowing individuals and groups to bring complaints to the UN Committee.

As women whose pay equity claims were cancelled or prevented from proceeding under the Act have no effective domestic remedy, the legislation breaches Article 2(3)(a) where a State Party undertakes 'To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms … are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.'

Article 25 stipulates that 'Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity,
without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: (a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives.' This is also breached. There was no prior consultation with the Ministry for Women, nor with any major women’s civil society groups or NGOs, or with trade unions.

Potentially both Article 3 and Article 26 have been breached. Article 3 commits New Zealand 'to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.' Article 26 promises 'All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.' 

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(CESCR)

New Zealand ratified CESCR in 1978. Article 2(1) of CESCR provides that a State Party 'undertakes to take steps, … to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant'. This means that once a treaty member has implemented a certain level of protection for these rights, it should not take steps to diminish or undo this progress.

Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)

New Zealand ratified CEDAW in 1985. New Zealand has also ratified the Optional Protocol, allowing individuals and groups to bring complaints to the UN Committee.

CEDAW Article 2(d) requires the State 'To refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions shall act in conformity with this obligation'. This is breached because the Government actively curtailed women’s rights through legislation.
Also, Article 2(c) requires States 'To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination'. The Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 does the opposite by removing legal protection, eliminating access to tribunals, and ensuring ineffective protection. CEDAW's Committee has consistently emphasised that formal equality is insufficient. Member states must ensure substantive equality through concrete measures (see General Recommendation No. 25, Article 4, paragraph 1).

Article 11(1)(d) guarantees women’s right to equal remuneration for work of equal value. This is breached because the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 removes or delays pay equity claims and denies effective remedies to women whose work is undervalued. Several groups are exploring the use of the complaints mechanism under the CEDAW Optional Protocol, especially for claimants who have now exhausted domestic remedies.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

New Zealand ratified CRPD in 2008. New Zealand has also ratified the Optional Protocol, allowing individuals and groups to bring complaints to the UN Committee. CRPD reinforces the principle that persons with disabilities must enjoy the same rights to work, fair pay, and equal opportunity as others, without discrimination. The relevant articles are:

• Article 5 – Equality and non-discrimination
• Article 16 – Freedom from exploitation, violence, and abuse
• Article 19 – Living independently and being included in the community.
• Article 27 – Work and employment

Stricter thresholds and comparator rules may disproportionately disadvantage disabled workers, who are often concentrated in sectors with few valid comparators. By restricting or terminating pay equity claims, the Act may leave some disabled workers without any legal pathway to challenge undervaluation, undermining access to justice obligations.

The Act fails to address workplace adjustments or differential costs that affect work value assessments. Applying a uniform comparator model risks undervaluing adjusted roles, conflicting with the CRPD duty to provide reasonable accommodation. The CRPD requires disaggregated data to track disability equity. If claims are excluded or discontinued, monitoring pay equity outcomes for disabled workers becomes difficult.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(CERD)

New Zealand ratified CERD in 1972. New Zealand has not ratified the Optional Protocol, allowing individuals and groups to bring complaints to the UN Committee. Article 5 requires that States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law. Article 5(d)(i) specifies 'The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration.'

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In addition to breaches of the above international treaties, the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 is inconsistent with the following Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs:

• SDG 5 – Gender Equality (Targets 5.1, 5.4, 5.5)
  The Act terminated 33 active pay equity claims and raised thresholds for initiating new ones. The loss of access to remedies undermines New Zealand’s obligations to ensure equal pay for work of equal value and women’s full participation in economic life. 
• SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth (Targets 8.5, 8.8)
  By restricting access to fair pay processes, the Act weakens labour protections and the right to pursue equitable remuneration. 
• SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities (Targets 10.2, 10.3)
  Because gender pay inequities intersect with ethnicity, the impact falls
  disproportionately on Māori and Pacific women. The removal of mechanisms to correct pay disparities risks widening both gender and ethnic pay gaps, directly conflicting with the SDG goal of empowering all and reducing inequalities within societies. 
• SDG 16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (Targets 16.6, 16.b)
  The Bill’s use of urgency, limited consultation, and retroactive cancellation of claims has raised concerns about transparency, procedural fairness, and accountability.

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

The UN's Human Rights Council calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years in a Universal Periodic Review (UPR).  New Zealand’s next UPR cycle takes place in 2029.

We expect that there will be questions about the rollback of women’s pay equity rights, highlighting the CEDAW and ILO breaches in particular. We anticipate that the UN will urge New Zealand to reinstate effective pay equity mechanisms.

To read more articles from The Circular (March-April 2026) issue 656, click on the tag below.