Proposed bill aims to let employees share their pay rate without employment sanctions

BY Stella Smith, Gwen Drewitt, Fiona McMillan, Andrew Shaw, and Andy Bell 13 Jun 2025

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Employers may soon be prevented from taking disciplinary action against employees who talk about their remuneration in a new Bill that aims to promote pay transparency.

The Employment Relations (Employer Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill would enable employees to discuss and disclose their own pay rate to others without detrimental effects on their employment.

Currently, employers can include clauses in individual and collective employment agreements that prohibit employees from discussing or disclosing their remuneration to third parties, including colleagues.

Pay transparency

Various overseas jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, have laws against pay secrecy clauses. The European Union is also introducing various pay transparency measures aimed at closing the gender pay gap, which include making it compulsory for employers to inform job seekers about starting salaries or the pay range of advertised positions.

New Zealand’s proposed law does not go as far as this, although the Explanatory Note to the Bill states it is hoped the Bill leads to “greater transparency in pay and allow any pay discrimination to be more easily identified and remedied.”

The Bill passed its first reading in November 2024 with Labour, National, the Greens, and the...

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