Equal Pay Amendment Act 1991
Equal Pay Amendment Act 1991
Equal Pay Amendment Act 1991
Public Act |
1991 No 25 |
|
Date of assent |
7 May 1991 |
|
Contents
An Act to amend the Equal Pay Act 1972
BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of New Zealand as follows:
1 Short Title and commencement
(1)
This Act may be cited as the Equal Pay Amendment Act 1991, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Equal Pay Act 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).
(2)
This Act shall come into force on the 15th day of May 1991.
2 Interpretation
(1)
Section 2(1) of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the definition of the term “employer”
, the following definition:
“‘Employment Tribunal’ means the Employment Tribunal established by section 77 of the Employment Contracts Act 1991:”.
(2)
Section 2(1) of the principal Act is hereby further amended by adding to paragraph (e) of the definition of the term “instrument”
the words “; and includes an employment contract within the meaning of the Employment Contracts Act 1991”
.
3 Unlawful discrimination
(1)
The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after section 2, the following section:
“2a
“(1)
No employer shall refuse or omit to offer or afford any person the same terms of employment, conditions of work, fringe benefits, and opportunities for training, promotion, and transfer as are made available for persons of the same or substantially similar qualifications employed in the same or substantially similar circumstances on work of that description by reason of the sex of that person.
“(2)
Where an employee would be entitled to make a complaint in respect of a breach of this section or make a complaint under the Human Rights Commission Act 1977, the employee may choose one of those entitlements but not both.”
(2)
Section 15(12) of the Human Rights Commission Act 1977 is hereby repealed.
4 Approval of instruments or proposed instruments
Section 10 of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “Court”
wherever it appears in subsections (2) and (4), and substituting in each case the words “Employment Tribunal”
.
5 Further powers of Employment Tribunal
Section 12 of the principal Act (as substituted by section 6(2) of the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 1977) is hereby amended by omitting the word “Court”
in both places where it appears, and substituting in each case the words “Employment Tribunal”
.
6 Recovery of remuneration based on equal pay
(1)
Section 13(1) of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “any Court”
, and substituting the words “the Employment Tribunal”
.
(2)
Section 13 of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsections (2) and (3), and substituting the following subsections:
“(2)
Notwithstanding anything in any other Act, any claim for the recovery of any remuneration in excess of the amount fixed by any instrument and made on the ground that it is payable pursuant to the provisions of this Act may be made to the Employment Tribunal as if it were a claim for the recovery of wages under section 48 of the Employment Contracts Act 1991.
“(3)
Without limiting the right of any employee to recover any remuneration payable otherwise than pursuant to this Act, no proceedings for the recovery of any remuneration in excess of the amount payable under any instrument, being an amount claimed on the ground that that excess is payable pursuant to this Act, shall be commenced in the Employment Tribunal for the recovery of any such remuneration that became payable more than 6 years before the date of the commencement of the proceedings.’’
(3)
Section 5 of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 1976 is hereby consequentially repealed.
7 Procedure and jurisdiction of Employment Tribunal
(1)
The principal Act is hereby amended by repealing section 14, and substituting the following section:
“14
In exercising its functions under this Act, or in respect of any breach of this Act, the Employment Tribunal shall have all the powers and functions it has under the Employment Contracts Act 1991.”
(2)
The Schedule to the Equal Pay Amendment Act 1973 is hereby amended by omitting from the second column the last item relating to section 14 of the principal Act.
This Act is administered in the Department of Labour.