Actions for schools for pay equity claims
By making sure employees are on the right designation code now, schools and kura can help make sure all employees covered by a pay equity settlement can access the benefits.
Level of compliance | Main audience | Other |
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- Settling claims
- Designation codes
- Employees with multiple roles
- Schools who don't use Education Payroll to pay non-teaching staff
Settling claims
There are several pay equity claims either recently raised or under investigation in the education sector. If any of these claims are settled, any employee whose work is within the scope of the claim will be entitled to the benefits of the pay equity settlement.
Pay equity claims in the education sector
For employees to receive payment following a settlement, they must be on the correct payroll designation code in Education Payroll. If an employee is not on the correct code at the time of a potential settlement, they will not be paid any adjusted rates or entitlements.
Designation codes also help us with notifying new employees whose work is covered by a claim. For example, when an administrator commences employment, contact information from payroll is used to send them a notification letter and fact sheet outlining their rights and options under the Equal Pay Act 1972.
Designation codes
Principals and authorised payroll users should make sure that employees whose work is covered by a current pay equity claim are on the correct designation code on Education Payroll (EdPay).
If employees are not on the correct designation code, this will need to be changed immediately. Where possible, the change should be backdated to the date on which they started the role. The science technician code – S89 – can only be backdated to 27 November 2020 (the date that it was created).
Designation codes can be changed on EdPay or by using a NOVO2nt form.
A list of designation codes can be found on the Education Payroll website.
Designation codes – Education Payroll(external link)
Payroll officers can view employees’ designation codes in EdPay or in the 'staff usage and expenditure' (SUE) reports.
When an employee changes their details
If an employee is covered by a claim and changes their details (that is, has a name change or new email address), they need to go directly to NZEI Te Riu Roa to have their details updated for the purposes of the pay equity claim.
You will also need to change their details in payroll for pay purposes.
For more advice, contact NZSTA on 0800 782 435 (option 2) or eradvice@nzsta.org.nz.
For assistance with changing a designation code, see to the Education Payroll website or contact your payroll advisor on 0508 668 6729 or support@novopay.govt.nz.
Employees with multiple roles
If an employee is performing multiple different and separate roles, they should have separate designation codes and job numbers for each role on EdPay.
Example of an employee with multiple roles
- Jane is working 10 hours as an administrator and 10 hours as a librarian.
- For her 10 hours as an administrator, she must be set up with an administrator designation code.
- For her 10 hours as a librarian, she must be set up under a librarian designation code with a separate job number.
Schools who don't use Education Payroll to pay non-teaching staff
Schools that do not use Education Payroll to pay their non-teaching staff must send us the information of any new employees that are in the same or substantially similar role as one of those outlined in the claims.
This information must be sent to payequity.claims@education.govt.nz within 10 working days of their start date.
Information required
We need the following information about new employees:
- first and last name
- job title
- email address
- start date.
Once we have their information, we can send them a letter and fact sheet outlining their options and rights under the Equal Pay Act 1972.
Privacy
Employees have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about them or have it corrected. They can do this by emailing us at payequity.claims@education.govt.nz.
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