Contributory Conduct Remedy Calculator NZ 2026

Updated  Employment Relations Act 2000 as amended by the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, in force 21 February 2026.
Quick answer On a grievance worth $44,500.00 where conduct played no part, a finding that your behaviour contributed leaves $14,625.00, because hurt and humiliation and reinstatement both fall away entirely and the remaining wages are reduced. A finding of serious misconduct leaves $0.00. That is a loss of $29,875.00 from a grievance you would otherwise have won.

Before 21 February 2026 an employee whose own behaviour had played some part in a dismissal usually still recovered something: the Authority reduced the award by a percentage and the employee took the rest. That is no longer how it works. The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 replaced the proportional approach with two hard steps. If your behaviour contributed to the situation, reinstatement and compensation for hurt and humiliation are not available at all, no matter how badly the employer behaved, and what remains can still be cut. If your behaviour amounted to serious misconduct, nothing is available. The grievance can still be established, the employer can still be found to have acted unjustifiably, and you can still walk away with nothing. This tool takes the remedies a grievance would attract on its merits and shows what actually survives under each tier.

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What you actually receive
$14,625.00
contributed, reduced 25%
Baseline on the merits
$44,500.00
if conduct played no part
Lost to your own conduct
$29,875.00
67.13% of the baseline

Remedy by remedy

Hurt and humiliation, s 123(1)(c)(i)$0.00
Loss of a benefit$0.00
Lost wages, s 123(1)(b)$14,625.00
ReinstatementNot sought
Total received$14,625.00
Baseline total$44,500.00
Reduction from your conduct$29,875.00
Share of the baseline lost67.13%

The same grievance under all three findings

Identical facts, identical employer failings. Only the finding on your conduct changes. Your case is highlighted.

FindingHurt and humiliationLost wagesReinstatementTotal
This is not legal advice. Whether conduct contributed, and whether it crossed into serious misconduct, are findings of fact made by the Employment Relations Authority or the Employment Court on evidence. Serious misconduct is not defined in the Act and the case law under these provisions is still developing, so the boundary between the two tiers is genuinely unsettled. If your own conduct is likely to be in issue, get advice from an employment lawyer or community law centre before you raise or settle anything.

Two tiers, not a sliding scale

The most common misunderstanding of these changes is that they simply made reductions larger. They did something different. There are now two findings with fixed consequences. A finding that your behaviour contributed removes reinstatement and removes compensation for hurt and humiliation or loss of any benefit; those are gone as a matter of law rather than reduced as a matter of discretion. A finding of serious misconduct removes everything. The reduction of up to 100 per cent then operates on whatever is left, which after a contribution finding usually means the lost wages alone. That is why the drop between the first and second rows of the comparison table is so much larger than people expect.

Hurt and humiliation is usually the largest component

In many grievances the compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings exceeds the lost wages, particularly where the employee found new work quickly. Removing that component entirely therefore removes most of the value of the claim, even before any reduction is applied to the wages. This has a practical consequence at mediation: an employer who believes it can establish contribution is negotiating against a much smaller number than the merits of its own conduct would suggest, and both sides know it.

The employer is still in the wrong

None of this changes what an employer must do. A dismissal without a fair and reasonable process is still unjustified, the grievance is still established, and the finding still stands against the employer. What has changed is the remedy, not the obligation. It is entirely possible under the current law to win a personal grievance, have the Authority record that your employer acted unjustifiably, and receive nothing at all.

Worked example

A grievance would attract $25,000.00 for hurt and humiliation and $19,500.00 of lost wages if the employee's conduct played no part, a baseline of $44,500.00. The Authority finds the employee's behaviour contributed but did not amount to serious misconduct, and applies a 25% reduction.

The hurt and humiliation component falls to $0.00 as a matter of law. The lost wages are reduced by a quarter to $14,625.00, which is the whole of the award. The employee has lost $29,875.00, or 67.13% of what the grievance was worth on its merits. Had the finding been serious misconduct, the award would be $0.00.

How this is calculated

The baseline is the hurt and humiliation compensation plus lost wages plus any loss of benefit, as they would be if conduct played no part. Where the finding is that conduct contributed, hurt and humiliation and loss of benefit are set to zero, reinstatement is marked unavailable, and the reduction percentage is applied to the lost wages. Where the finding is serious misconduct, every component is set to zero and the reduction is irrelevant. Where conduct played no part, the reduction does not apply and the baseline stands. The share lost is the difference between the baseline and the final figure, expressed as a percentage of the baseline.

Official sources

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Important: this is information, not legal advice

This page explains how the law works and estimates figures from what you enter. It cannot tell you what will happen in your situation, because employment outcomes turn on facts, evidence and the wording of your own agreement. Nothing here creates a lawyer and client relationship.

It has not been reviewed by a lawyer. The legal descriptions are drawn from Employment New Zealand, MBIE and Inland Revenue and were checked against those sources on 7 August 2026. They are our reading of published guidance, not a practitioner's opinion, and parts of this area are very new: the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 has been in force only since 21 February 2026 and there is little case law on how it will be applied.

Serious misconduct is not defined in the Act and there is almost no case law under these provisions yet, so the boundary between the two tiers is genuinely unsettled.

Before you act, get advice. A community law centre is free. Employment New Zealand provides free information and mediation. An employment lawyer will tell you things no calculator can. Time limits are short and unforgiving: a personal grievance must generally be raised within 90 days, so seek advice early rather than waiting for certainty.

Frequently asked questions

What happens to my remedies if my own conduct contributed?

Since 21 February 2026, if your behaviour contributed to the situation that gave rise to the grievance, the Authority or Court cannot order reinstatement and cannot award compensation for hurt and humiliation or loss of any benefit. Reimbursement of lost wages remains available but may itself be reduced. This is a much sharper outcome than the previous approach, which reduced awards proportionally.

What counts as serious misconduct?

The Act does not define it, and the case law under the new provisions is still developing. It is generally understood to mean conduct that fundamentally undermines the employment relationship, such as theft, violence, serious dishonesty or a serious safety breach. Because the consequence is now the loss of every remedy, the line between contribution and serious misconduct matters far more than it used to and is genuinely uncertain at the moment.

Can remedies be reduced by 100 per cent?

Yes. Reductions of up to 100 per cent are available where an employee has contributed to the situation. That means a grievance can be established, the employer found to have acted unjustifiably, and the employee still receive nothing.

Does an employer still have to follow a fair process?

Yes. The changes affect remedies, not obligations. An employer who dismisses unfairly has still acted unjustifiably even if the employee contributed, and the grievance can still be established. What has changed is what the employee walks away with.

Who decides whether my conduct contributed?

The Employment Relations Authority or the Employment Court, on the evidence. They are now required to consider it rather than having a discretion, and to consider whether the behaviour obstructed the employer's ability to meet its fair and reasonable obligations.