Actions for schools for pay equity claims
There are several pay equity claims either recently raised or under investigation in the education sector. Employees covered by these claims will be entitled to the benefits of any pay equity settlement.
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Required
|
|
|
- Latest settlement guidance
- Designation codes
- Employees with multiple roles
- Schools who don't use Education Payroll to pay non-teaching staff
Latest settlement guidance
View the latest guidance on implementing the pay equity claim settlements for school librarians and library assistants, and science technicians:
- Librarians and Library Assistants' Pay Equity Claim Settlement guidance(external link)
- Science Technicians' Pay Equity Claim Settlement guidance(external link)
Designation codes
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.
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 factsheet outlining their rights and options under the Equal Pay Act 1972.
Action
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 EdPay.
If employees are not on the correct designation code, this will need to be changed immediately, with the change backdated to the date on which they started the role, where possible. 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 a NOVO2nt form.
A list of designation codes can be found on the Education Payroll website(external link) and in the table below. Payroll officers can view employees’ designation codes in EdPay, or in the Staff Usage and Expenditure (SUE) reports.
If an employee is covered by a claim and changes their details i.e. 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 still need to change their details in payroll for pay purposes.
For further advice, contact NZSTA on 0800 782 435 (option 2) or eradvice@nzsta.org.nz.
For assistance with changing a designation code, refer to the Education Payroll website or contact your payroll advisor on 0508 668 6729 or support@novopay.govt.nz.
| Current pay equity claims | Designation code/s | Collective agreement role covered by: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administration support staff |
|
Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement (SSSCA)
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Specialist and Support Staff Collective Agreement
Special Residential Schools' Collective Agreement (SRSCA) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kaiārahi i te Reo |
|
Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists' Collective Agreement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Science Technicians |
|
Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement (SSSCA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School Librarians/Library Assistants |
|
Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement (SSSCA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teachers' |
|
Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement Area School Teachers’ Collective Agreement Primary Principals’ Collective Agreement Secondary Principals’ Collective Agreement Area School Principals’ Collective Agreement Te Aho o te Kura Pounamu Early Childhood Teachers' Collective Agreement Adult and Community Education (ACE) Staff in Schools' Collective Agreement |
Employees with multiple roles
If an employee is performing multiple different and separate roles, such as an administrator and a librarian, they should have separate designation codes and job numbers for each role on EdPay.
For example:
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 who don’t 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. To determine whether an employee is in the same or substantially similar role as one of those outlined in the claims, refer to the table above.
We need the following information about new employees:
- First and last name
- Job title
- Email address
- Start date
Employees have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about them, or can have it corrected, by emailing us at payequity.claims@education.govt.nz.
Once we have their information, we can send them a letter and factsheet outlining their options and rights under the Equal Pay Act 1972.
Last reviewed: Has this been useful? Give us your feedback