E tū and the Public Service Association have today filed legal action against Health New Zealand in the Employment Relations Authority, alleging the agency is breaching the Wages Protection Act 1983 by forcing home support workers to spend their own wages on cars, fuel, insurance, and maintenance as a condition of doing their jobs.
The unions argue that Health NZ, as the funder of home support services across the country, is a “controlling third party” under employment law and is unlawfully requiring workers to subsidise the delivery of a public service out of their own pockets. Around 23,000 home support workers travel to clients’ homes every day to care for older people and those with injuries, illness, or disability, using their own vehicles.
Workers receive a mileage allowance of 63.5 cents per kilometre, averaged at 3.8km per client visit. The rate has not been increased since 2022, despite a legal requirement for it to be reviewed annually. It falls well short of the real cost of running a vehicle.
Home support worker and E tū member Tamara Baddeley says the situation has become unbearable.
“I’ve had to rearrange my work to make sure I’m not driving across town unnecessarily. Every time I go out, I’m planning what else I can get done at the same time. I don’t even want to look at the petrol pump when I fill up,” Tamara says.
“We have to have a car that’s warranted, registered, and reliable. We get nothing towards warrants, services, or any other wear and tear. People are getting their cars serviced twice a year because of the mileage they do. All we get is the mileage allowance, and it doesn’t come close.”
Tamara says the combination of low pay, cancelled pay equity, and rising costs is driving workers away.
“This Government took away our right to pay equity. They took away a decent pay rise we should have got, and we’ve been waiting far too long. Now they won’t even review the mileage rate. A lot of support workers are going to leave because they can’t afford to keep running their cars for work.”
E tū Director Amy Hansen says the legal action is about holding the Government to account for a funding model that treats essential workers as disposable.
“These workers keep people safe and independent in their own homes. They are among the lowest-paid workers in the country, and they are one of the only publicly funded workforces expected to supply and maintain a car as a basic condition of doing their jobs,” Amy says.
“The Wages Protection Act exists for exactly this reason. It was written to stop employers making workers spend their wages to fund the business. That is what Health NZ’s funding model does, and it is unlawful.”
Amy says the Government has the power to act immediately.
“The Health Minister can direct an increase to the mileage rate right now. It hasn’t moved in four years, despite a legal requirement for annual review. That failure is not an accident. It is a political choice to keep underpaying workers who are already stretched to breaking point.
“Workers have been denied pay equity, denied decent wages, and now denied fair reimbursement for the basic costs of getting to work. We are taking this to court because enough is enough.”