What is discrimination?

It is discrimination in employment if an employer:

• won’t or doesn’t give an employee the same terms of employment, work conditions, fringe benefits, opportunities for training, promotion and transfer as other employees:
  • with more or less the same qualifications, experience, or skills, and
  • who are employed in the same or substantially similar circumstances, or
• dismisses an employee or does something that has a negative effect on their employment, job performance or job satisfaction when they are not treating other employees doing the same type of work in the same way, or
• retires an employee or makes the employee retire or resign (eg by creating unfavourable working conditions in order to make the person resign), and
• the reason is directly or indirectly a prohibited ground of discrimination.

There are some specific employment situations that are exceptions and in these situations, it is not unlawful to make employment-related decisions on the basis of a prohibited ground. For example, in some situations, it is legal to employ only a woman for a particular position.

Prohibited grounds for discrimination

All people are protected from unlawful discrimination in their employment. This includes discrimination on the grounds of:

• age
• race or colour
• ethnicity or national origins
• sex (including pregnancy or childbirth)
• sexual orientation
• disability
• religious or ethical belief
• marital or family status
• employment status
• political opinion
• being affected by family violence
• involvement in union activities, including claiming or helping others to claim a benefit under an employment agreement, or taking or intending to take employment relations education leave.

When recruiting new employees, it is considered unlawful discrimination for an employer to ask an employee any questions relating to those grounds, or to make their hiring decisions based on those grounds.

More information

Human Rights Commission

• InfoLine phone: 0800 496 877
• Action and Resources on the Transgender Inquiry(external link)
• Getting a Job: A-Z Pre-Employment Guidelines [PDF 630KB, 54 pages](external link)

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

• CTU Out @ Work Network(external link)

Business New Zealand

• www.businessnz.org.nz(external link)

Diversity Works New Zealand (formerly EEO Trust)

• https://diversityworksnz.org.nz/(external link)