On this page:
- Information about fees in the Employment Court
- Ways to file documents and pay filing fee
- Information about forms in the Employment Court
- Frequently used forms
- Other forms
- Forms used when serving a defendant overseas (other than in Australia)
- Forms for a case involving a defendant in Australia (and the Trans-Tasman Proceeding Act 2010 Applies
- If you can't access these forms
Information about fees in the Employment Court
There are two types of fees in the Employment Court:
- Filing fees (as listed in the Forms table below) are payable at the time of or before documents are filed and are GST inclusive. Please refer to the 'Ways to pay the fee' table below.
- Hearing fees are payable after the hearing for each half day of hearing after the first day. The hearing fee for a half day hearing is currently $275.00. Generally it is the responsibility of the plaintiff/applicant to pay the hearing fees. The invoice for the hearing fees will be sent to that party or their representative. The Employment Court will no longer be accepting cheques from 1 June 2021.
Ways to file documents and pay filing fees
FILE AND PAY
File and Pay(external link) is an alternative to filing applications and documents by email and paying fees by direct credit. The application types that can be filed through File and Pay can be found here: List of application types that can be filed through File and Pay. [XLSX, 28 KB]
Requirements:
- We will accept PDF documents signed and dated.
- The maximum size of an individual document is 50MB.
- Up to 10 documents can be uploaded per filing, to the maximum total upload of 100MB.
- If the document attracts a filing fee, you will be prompted to pay the associated fee and you will receive a receipt/tax invoice as confirmation of payment.
- If the document does not attract a filing fee you will receive receipt with zero amount noted as paid.
Please note that the lodgement through File and Pay:
- Will not be deemed accepted until registry staff have processed and accepted the documents. If the filing is not accepted, the registry will contact you and any fee paid will be refunded.
- Provides no ability to track the status of cases through the portal, tracking will continue in the usual way with the registry.
- Does not constitute a waiver for filing hard copies of the applications and other documents. Upon receipt of documents through File and Pay, the registry will advise you of the number of hard copies required. For any queries, please Contact us | Employment Court of New Zealand(external link).
BY EMAIL
The registry will still accept filing by email and payment of filing fees by direct credit. If you know the name of the Court Registry Officer please email the document to that person, or send an email to the Registrar – please see Contact us | Employment Court of New Zealand(external link).
The Registrar or Court Registry Officer will advise you of the number of hard copies required.
To pay the fee by direct credit, follow the below instructions:
- Pay the money into Westpac account 03-0049-0001063-00.
- Include the reference 150000 + your surname or company name
- Tell the appropriate Employment Court registry that you have made the payment.
- It is the responsibility of the payer to confirm that the details of the payment are communicated to the registry staff in the appropriate Employment Court.
- The inclusion of adequate identifying information on the payment is also the responsibility of the payer.
Please note: The application will not be able to be confirmed until receipt of the fee is confirmed as received, which would normally be on the morning of the next working day. However, once receipt of the fee is confirmed the application will be recorded as filed on the date the fee was paid.
IN PERSON OR BY POST
You can post your documents to the registry providing you have paid the filing fee and submitted proof of payment.
You can file documents in person and pay the filing fee in cash or EFTPOS using a debit or credit card at the court counter (please do not send cash in the post).
Information about forms in the Employment Court
The forms can be downloaded when selected from the below list in Word document. Upon downloading please delete the red instructions from the Word document before filing.
Find out more about completing, filing and serving documents and paying the filing fee.
Frequently used forms
Other forms
Forms used when serving a defendant overseas (other than in Australia)
| Form | Filing Fee | Number of copies required |
|---|---|---|
| Form 2A: When used for an application for leave to serve statement of claim on an overseas party [DOC, 46 KB] | $204.44 | 3 |
| Form 2B: Request for service overseas [DOC, 31 KB] | Free | 2 |
| Form 2C: Notice accompanying statement of claim served outside New Zealand [DOC, 28 KB] | Free | 2 |
| Form 2D: Objection to Court's jurisdiction [DOC, 28 KB] | Free | 2 |
Forms for a case involving a defendant in Australia (and the Trans-Tasman Proceeding Act 2010 applies)
From 11 October 2013, new arrangements for resolving civil disputes with people in Australia came into effect. Arrangements under the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010(external link) and associated Employment Court (Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010) Amendment Regulations 2013 (external link)have made resolving civil disputes with people in Australia simpler, cheaper and more efficient.
Find out more about Trans-Tasman Proceedings (external link)
In addition to the Employment Court Regulations forms referred to in the tables above, the following forms should be used when a defendant (or in some cases, a witness) is in Australia and where the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 applies:
If you can't access these forms
If you can't use these forms in Microsoft Word or can't open the PDF, you can find them online in Employment Court Regulations 2000(external link)
Or go to the High Court Rules(external link)
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