The first ruling on the new partial strike deduction rules, and it split the full court
Employers can warn staff of pay cuts before a partial strike begins, a full Employment Court held on 30 June 2026, Judge Holden writing.
The ruling was the first time the Court has examined the lawfulness of pay deductions for partial strikes since new provisions entered the Employment Relations Act 2000 on 1 July 2025. The Chief Judge convened a full Court because the issue was considered important.
The case grew out of bargaining between the union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, and the Ministry of Education over collective agreements covering service managers and field staff. Field staff include psychologists, speech language therapists and behaviour support specialists who work with students who have learning support needs.
In July 2025 the union served notices of partial strike action, banning work on any new cases along with caps on daily and weekly hours. In response, the Ministry told the union it would apply a 10 per cent deduction to the pay of striking employees. The Ministry gave that notice on 21 July 2025, before the strike started on 23 July.
NZEI argued the deductions were unlawful because, in its view, the relevant notice provision could only be used once a strike was underway and employees were actually party to it. Notice given in advance, the union said, was invalid. The Ministry countered that the law let it choose how and when to give notice, and that early notice served the...
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