How much compensation can I get for a personal grievance in NZ?

Compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings is awarded in three bands set by the Employment Court in GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service in 2023: up to $12,000 for low-level loss or damage, $12,000 to $50,000 for the middle range, and over $50,000 for the most serious cases. Lost wages are separate and are usually reimbursed for the period you were genuinely out of work. Most claims settle at mediation for a confidential sum rather than being decided.

How long do I have to raise a personal grievance?

You must raise it with your employer within 90 days of the issue arising or of you becoming aware of it, whichever is later. Sexual harassment has a longer window of 12 months. The 90 day rule was not changed by the 2026 amendments. Raising a grievance is not the same as filing a claim; it means putting the employer on notice.

Can I still raise a grievance if I earn over $200,000?

Not for unjustified dismissal, or for an unjustified disadvantage that relates to the dismissal, unless your employment agreement expressly says the threshold does not apply. Other grievances such as discrimination and harassment are not affected. Employees on agreements that existed before 21 February 2026 have a transition period running to 21 February 2027.

Is a personal grievance payout taxed?

Reimbursement of lost wages is taxable, because it replaces income you would have earned. Compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings under section 123(1)(c)(i) is generally not taxable, because it compensates for hurt rather than for income. How a settlement is apportioned between the two matters, and is a question for your adviser.

Personal Grievance Payout Calculator NZ 2026

Updated Employment Relations Act 2000 as amended by the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, in force 21 February 2026. Bands from GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service [2023] NZEmpC 101.

Quick answer On the answers below the claim sits in Band 2, which the Employment Court uses for mid-range loss or damage. That points to $14,000 to $26,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings, plus $19,500.00 of lost wages over 13 weeks, giving an indicative total of $33,500 to $45,500. These are ranges, not a valuation of your claim, and most matters settle at mediation for a confidential sum.

A personal grievance has two money components and they work in completely different ways. The first is compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings under section 123(1)(c)(i) of the Employment Relations Act 2000. It is not calculated from your salary at all; it is assessed against how badly you were affected, using three bands the Employment Court set out in GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service in 2023. The second is reimbursement of wages you actually lost, which is arithmetic rather than judgement. On top of both sits something that changed sharply on 21 February 2026: your own conduct can now remove remedies entirely rather than merely reduce them. This tool places a claim in a band from five plain questions, prices the lost wages, applies the new contribution rules, and shows every figure as a range, because anyone offering you a single number for a personal grievance is guessing.

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What happened The type of grievance you would raise

Weekly gross pay Before tax

Weeks without income Until you found other work

Five questions that set the band

Effect on your health Physical or mental

How long the effects lasted From the event to now

How the employer behaved The manner, not just the outcome

Who knew about it Public humiliation raises awards

Medical or professional evidence Evidence materially affects awards

Did your own conduct contribute? This changes the answer more than anything else

Reduction for contribution Only applies if you answered yes. Up to 100 per cent

Indicative total
$33,500 to $45,500
before any reduction

Hurt and humiliation

$14,000 to $26,000

Band 2, mid-range

Lost wages

$19,500.00

13 weeks at $1,500.00

How the band was chosen

Effect on health2 of 3

How long the effects lasted1 of 3

How the employer behaved2 of 3

Who knew about it0 of 3

Medical or professional evidence1 of 3

Severity score6 of 15

BandBand 2, mid-range

Band range$12,000 to $50,000

Indicative hurt and humiliation$14,000 to $26,000

Lost wages claimed$19,500.00

Effect of your own conductNo reduction

Indicative total after contribution$33,500 to $45,500

The three bands

Set by the Employment Court in GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service [2023] NZEmpC 101, which lifted the 2017 bands for inflation. Your band is highlighted.

Band	Description	Range

This is not legal advice, and it cannot value your claim. Outcomes depend entirely on the facts, the evidence, and how each is presented. Two people with identical answers here can receive very different results. Before you act on any figure on this page, talk to an employment lawyer or your nearest community law centre, both of which will tell you things this tool cannot. Most grievances settle at mediation for a confidential sum that is never reported, so published awards are a biased sample of the strongest cases.

Timing matters and it is short. A personal grievance must be raised with your employer within 90 days of the issue arising or of you becoming aware of it, whichever is later. Sexual harassment has a 12 month window. Missing the deadline usually ends the claim regardless of its merits, so raise it first and work out the value afterwards.

The two components are assessed completely differently

Compensation under section 123(1)(c)(i) is for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings. It has nothing to do with what you earned. A cleaner and a chief executive who suffer the same treatment and the same harm should receive the same award, and in principle they do. That is why this calculator asks about your health, the duration, the employer's manner and who knew, and does not feed your salary into that side of the estimate at all. Reimbursement of lost wages under section 123(1)(b) is the opposite: it is straightforward arithmetic on what you would have earned, reduced by what you actually earned elsewhere, because it restores income rather than compensating for hurt.

What the GF bands actually did

In 2023 the Employment Court in GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service reset the banding used since 2017, lifting each band for inflation using the Reserve Bank's calculator. Band 1, for low-level loss or damage, moved from up to $10,000 to up to $12,000. Band 2, the middle range, moved from $10,000 to $40,000 up to $12,000 to $50,000. Band 3, for the most serious cases, now begins above $50,000 rather than $40,000. The bands are guidance rather than a tariff, and awards have continued to drift upward since, with six-figure awards made in the most serious cases. Treat the top of each band as soft.

Since February 2026 your own conduct can end the claim

This is the change that matters most and it is not widely understood yet. Under the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026, in force from 21 February 2026, the Authority and the Court must consider whether your behaviour contributed to the situation. If it did, they cannot order reinstatement and cannot award compensation for hurt and humiliation at all; you are left with reimbursement of lost wages, which may itself be reduced. If your behaviour amounted to serious misconduct, no remedies can be awarded at all, no matter how badly the employer handled the process. Reductions of up to 100 per cent are available on whatever remains. Serious misconduct is not defined in the Act and the case law is still developing, which means the line between the two tiers is genuinely uncertain at the moment.

Worked example

An employee earning $1,500.00 a week is dismissed without a fair process. The effect on their health was significant and affected daily life, it lasted several months, the employer's decision was predetermined, the matter was handled privately, and they saw a GP. That scores 6 of 15, which places the claim in Band 2, the mid range of $12,000 to $50,000, and within that band points to $14,000 to $26,000.

They were out of work for 13 weeks, so lost wages are $19,500.00. The indicative total is $33,500 to $45,500. Had their own conduct contributed, the hurt and humiliation component would fall away entirely and only the wages would remain, subject to further reduction.

How this is calculated

Each of the five questions scores 0 to 3, giving a severity score out of 15. A score of 0 to 4 places the claim in Band 1, 5 to 10 in Band 2, and 11 to 15 in Band 3. Within the band, the score sets where the indicative range sits: a claim near the bottom of its band is shown near the bottom of the range. Band 3 is open-ended, so its upper figure is shown as a floor rather than a cap. Lost wages are weekly gross pay multiplied by the weeks without income. If you answered that your conduct contributed, the hurt and humiliation component is set to zero, matching the statute, and the reduction percentage is applied to the lost wages. If you answered serious misconduct, everything is set to zero.

Official sources

Employment Relations Act 2000, legislation.govt.nz
Personal grievances, Employment New Zealand
Employment Relations Act changes take effect, Employment New Zealand
GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service [2023] NZEmpC 101, Employment Court of New Zealand

Related NZ calculators

$200k Personal Grievance Threshold Checker for whether you can claim at all
Contributory Conduct Remedy Calculator for the 2026 contribution rules in detail
Final Pay Calculator for what you were owed on leaving
Lump Sum and Redundancy Tax Calculator for the tax on a settlement
Redundancy Entitlement Calculator if redundancy was the reason given

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.

The ranges here are drawn from published Employment Court banding. Most grievances settle confidentially at mediation, so reported awards are a biased sample of the strongest cases and no range predicts your own outcome.

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.