When cultural commitments are in the contract, employers must walk the talk
New Zealand's Employment Court has ruled that cultural values embedded in employment agreements are enforceable obligations employers must uphold during restructuring.
In a judgment delivered on 19 March 2026, Judge M S King found that the Pacific Island Business Development Trust failed to honour Pasifika values it had written into its own employment contracts when it made two senior employees redundant in June 2023.
The Trust is a not-for-profit supporting Pasifika people in business and employment. It had expressly incorporated five Pasifika values into its position descriptions and employment agreements: respect, family, community, reciprocity, and religion and spirituality. John Faitala, general manager for programme services and clients since around 2020, and Vahanoa Vea, who joined the Trust in 2018 and had been corporate services manager since 2021, were both selected partly for their cultural capability and understanding.
In early 2023, the Trust appointed a new chief executive, Ms Los'e, to lead an organisational reset. The Trust had been receiving external employment relations advice from March 2023. On 24 May 2023, staff were presented with a restructure proposal that would disestablish five roles, including those held by Faitala and Vea, and create nine new positions.
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