Pay Equity

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In July 2017, Te Whakarōputanga, along with the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa, entered into a joint process to examine the claim raised by NZEI that because teacher aides are mostly women their work is likely to be undervalued and underpaid. Following the successful settlement of the Teacher Aide Pay Equity Claim (TAPEC), we are now working to address a range of other pay equity claims in the education sector. 

Our thanks to our partners and sector stakeholders, and to school boards and principals, who have been instrumental in creating and delivering positive change in our sector.

Administration and Kaiārahi Pay Equity Settlement Webinar and resources

Overall claims update
General
  • Te Whakarōputanga meets weekly with MoE Pay Equity team.
  • There are three available gender-neutral tools in New Zealand, all of which are consistent with the Act and use factor-based analysis.
  • Pay Equity Aromatawai Mahi tool (PEAM) was developed collaboratively between the Ministry of Education Te Tahuhu o te Matauranga, Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa e tipu e rea, and the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa.
  • Factor scoring - the parties test outcomes of the work assessment by overlaying a points system to each of the factor levels allocated to the work of claimant and comparators. This is a process that can help the parties to confirm, get clarity on differences/degree of comparability between claimant work and the work of comparators.
  • Factor scoring of an occupation takes into consideration - the skills, responsibilities, demands and working conditions that make up the work (Note: there are 14 factors so best to describe them as this rather than list only certain specific ones). Each factor has different levels which help the user identify where a role best fits.
Communications
  • MoE will publish an article in Education Gazette with general overview of pay equity.
  • Te Whakarōputanga/MoE/Unions meet monthly for Communications strategy – aim to align timing of a high level overview of - “What is being done?”, “How the process is progressing?”, “When the steps occur?”.
  • Te Whakarōputanga sends all communications and updates to the Presiding Member and Principal of each school to action and pass on to  those who will need to administer the steps required in the process – schools must follow the steps requested by MoE/EPL within the required timeframes. You can also sign up to receive the MoE Pay Equity newsletter here.
  • Te Whakarōputanga Communications team is involved in the communication strategy and release of updates and general communications.
Five main stages of a claim:
  1. Raising the claim
    The union representing a particular occupational group will notify the Secretary of Education that, because most people working in these occupations are women, their work is likely to be undervalued and underpaid.
  2. Investigation of claimant role
    Ministry and the Union/s review a random sample of these staff from schools throughout New Zealand. They look at job descriptions and talk to the staff, their leaders/supervisors and principals to learn more about the work they are doing, including their skills, responsibilities, working conditions and demands.
  3. Investigation of comparator roles
    They research male-dominated occupations where similar skills, responsibilities, working conditions and demands are needed.
  4. Assessment/analysis of evidence
    They then compare the skills, responsibilities, working conditions and demands of the school staff and the comparator occupations, and look at how much each group is being paid for their work. Then they decide if the staff in those occupations mostly done by women are paid less than staff in those mostly done by men.
  5. Settlement
    If they find there is no gender-based discrimination the claim is denied. If they find there is gender-based undervaluation the parties will negotiate a settlement with fair remuneration.