Employment Court

From 1 September 2024, new Practice Directions will apply. They provide for successful litigant-in-person costs awards under Practice Direction No 18, the Court’s Guideline scale – costs. The new Practice Directions are published on the Practice directions, legislation & rules page. Find out more about the changes to the Practice Directions. 
From 1 July 2024, our filing and hearing fees increased by 10 per cent.  The new fees are published on the Employment Court forms & fees page.
From 2 April 2024, the Court will be administered centrally. Find out more about changes to case processing and management.

The New Zealand judiciary has now published guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence in courts and tribunals : Guidelines for use of generative artificial intelligence in Courts and Tribunals — Courts of New Zealand (courtsofnz.govt.nz)

Employment Court cases scheduled for 16 December 2024 to 31 January 2025

As the Government has now removed the remaining Covid-19 restrictions, the Employment Court has withdrawn its protocol of 13 September 2022, effective from 21 August 2023. A party may, however, still seek a direction that a matter be conducted with some or all participants appearing remotely, in which case the Courts (Remote Participation) Act 2010 will apply (see sections 5 and 7).

The Employment Court has issued revised Practice Directions, effective from 1 June 2023  As part of our ongoing review of our webpage, the Court will progressively move to ensure that the information on the website appears in multiple languages, commencing with a translation of some key pages into te reo Māori.  After discussion, the judges determined that the Practice Directions were a priority.  The Ministry of Justice therefore engaged the Department of Internal Affairs’ translation service to undertake that work.  The translated Practice Directions, Mahi Aronga have now been received and can be found here: Employment Court Practice Directions (Mahi Aronga)

Our Courthouses – practical guidance Information on some practical matters to assist you when you come to Court: location, transport, parking, refreshment options.

Guidance on remote participation in Court has been updated. Please see the Guideline for appearing by audio-visual link including in Virtual Hearings , Summary of Guidelines for a Witness giving evidence by audio-visual link including in Virtual Hearings and Guideline for Remote Viewing of Hearings

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā waka, e ngā hau e whā o te motu, nau mai, piki mai, haere mai, haere mai ki te Kōti Take Mahi.

Please follow @EmploymentCourt on Twitter for news and information from the Employment Court.

Twitter.com/EmploymentCourt

The Employment Court hears and determines cases relating to employment disputes. These include challenges to determinations of the Employment Relations Authority, questions of interpretation of law, and disputes over strikes and lockouts.

This site does not contain legal advice. The information does not necessarily apply to every case and is subject to the relevant provisions in the Employment Relations Act 2000, the Employment Court Regulations 2000, and practice directions issued by the judges. Some of these sources are referred to on this website. If you want to know more about your employment rights or have an employment relationship problem, please go to Employment New Zealand

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