RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT 1. Urgently introduce pay transparency legislation. Urgently introduce legislation requiring pay transparency. The pay transparency legislation should aim to eliminate Pacific, Māori and ethnic pay gaps as a key principle. Employers should be required to report annually on their pay gaps on an intersectional basis. This means doing it in a manner that reveals the differential gaps experienced by Pacific, Māori, ethnic minorities, disabled people and women. The reporting should be based on full renumeration of people within and across each level of their organisation. This information should be publicly available. 3. • 4. In addition, employers should be required to prepare and report equity plans, in consultation with employees from equity-seeking groups, to address gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps. The equity plans should include measurable targets to show how they will close pay gaps within a set timeframe. 2. Establish a national pay equity taskforce to ensure Pacific, Māori and ethnic pay gaps are closed by 2042. Resource the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to establish and coordinate a collaborative taskforce (made up of Government, employer representatives, union representatives and Tangata Whenua representatives) to provide leadership and oversight on pay equity as the systems lead. The key functions of this taskforce should include, but not be limited to: • 14 developing and communicating employment best-practice protocols, taking into account different-sized businesses. • developing and delivering resources for all workers on employment and related human rights in different community languages. • ensuring that reporting processes are followed by actionable, tailored and enforceable plans to address identified pay gaps. Implement the recommendations of the Tripartite Working Group on Better Protections for Contractors. • This should include stronger legal protections for vulnerable workers who are on independent contracts and clearer legal definitions for employees and contractors with the aim of reducing the exploitation of vulnerable contractors. Any amendments should include accessible enforcement mechanisms Ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) 190 Violence and Harassment Convention (2019). ILO 190 recognises the economic harm that can result from violence and harassment in the workplace, including gender-based violence and harassment. Insert the definition of violence and harassment in the ILO 190 into the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Human Rights Act 1993 so that survivors can more easily access support, including compensation. 5. Raise the minimum wage to the same level as the living wage to ensure that increases over time remain adequate to meet people’s living costs. Ensure that, as the living wage increases, the minimum wage increases at the same rate. The minimum wage should be raised to the living wage and pegged to it to ensure that increases to the minimum wage over time remain adequate to meet people’s living costs. 6. Amend the Equal Pay Act 1972 to expand prohibited grounds to also include ethnicity and disability. The Equal Pay Act currently only provides for the removal of pay discrimination between men and women. We recommend amending the Equal Pay Act to expand the prohibited grounds of differentiation between rates of remuneration offered and afforded by employers from sex to also include ethnicity and disability as the first priority. Thereafter, gender identity and age should be prioritised for inclusion.