How long does a redundancy consultation have to be in New Zealand?

There is no fixed statutory period. The Employment Relations Act requires an employer to act in good faith, which means giving affected employees the information behind the proposal and a genuine opportunity to respond before any decision is made. What counts as enough time depends on the complexity of the proposal and the number of people affected, and a period that looks like a formality rather than a genuine consultation is the most common reason a process fails.

Can I give notice at the same time as the decision?

The decision and the notice are separate steps and should be treated that way. A decision communicated before feedback has genuinely been considered suggests the outcome was predetermined, which is exactly what a personal grievance will focus on. Notice then runs according to the employment agreement from the date the decision is communicated.

Is redundancy compensation required in New Zealand?

Only if the employment agreement provides for it. Unlike some countries, New Zealand has no statutory redundancy compensation, so what is payable comes from the individual or collective agreement. Notice, any accrued annual holidays and any contractual redundancy payment all fall due, and are worked out separately from the consultation timeline.

Redundancy Consultation Timeline Calculator

Awaiting legal review. This page is complete but has not yet been read by an employment lawyer, so it is not listed in our calculator index or search. Use it to plan around, not to rely on. Redundancy processes fail on procedure far more often than on the business case, and if you are running one, take advice.

This calculator lays out the working days for each step of a redundancy consultation, from issuing the proposal through to the last day of employment, excluding weekends and any public holidays you enter. You set the start date and how many working days you are allowing for each stage, and it returns the date each step falls on and the total elapsed time. New Zealand sets no fixed statutory consultation period, which is exactly why a tool like this helps and also why it cannot tell you the right answer. What the Employment Relations Act requires is good faith: giving affected employees the information the proposal is based on, and a genuine opportunity to respond before any decision is made. Whether the time you allow is enough depends on how complex the proposal is and how many people it affects, and a timeline that reads as a formality rather than a genuine consultation is the single most common reason a process ends in a personal grievance. Two structural points matter more than the day count. The decision and the notice are separate steps: communicating a decision before feedback has genuinely been considered suggests the outcome was predetermined, and that is what a grievance will focus on. And redundancy compensation is not statutory in New Zealand, so what is payable comes from the individual or collective agreement rather than from the law.

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Date the proposal is issued

Working days for feedback

Working days to consider feedback

Working days to communicate the decision

Notice period, in weeks

Public holidays in the period, one date per line

22 October 2026

last day of employment on this timeline

Feedback closes15 September 2026

Decision communicated24 September 2026

Notice starts24 September 2026

Total elapsed days51

New Zealand sets no fixed consultation period. These are the days you have chosen to allow, not a legal minimum, and whether they amount to good faith depends on the complexity of the proposal and the number of people affected.

How it works

The timeline counts forward in working days from the date the proposal is issued, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and any public holidays you enter. Feedback closes after the days you allow for it. The decision date adds the days you allow to consider that feedback and then to communicate the outcome, which are kept separate on purpose because consideration that takes no time at all is the thing a grievance will point at. Notice runs from the date the decision is communicated, in calendar weeks rather than working days, because notice periods in employment agreements are almost always expressed that way. The last day of employment is the end of that notice period, and the total elapsed figure is calendar days from proposal to finish, which is usually the number a business is actually planning around.

Worked example

A proposal is issued on Tuesday 1 September 2026 with 10 working days for feedback, so feedback closes on 15 September. Five working days to consider that feedback and two to prepare and communicate the outcome takes the decision to 24 September. A four week notice period from that date puts the last day of employment at 22 October, and the whole process runs 51 calendar days from proposal to finish. Compressing the middle of that, particularly the days allowed to consider feedback, is where processes come unstuck: a decision issued the morning after submissions close is difficult to defend as genuine consideration.

Related calculators

Redundancy Entitlement: what is payable at the end of it.
Notice Period: how long notice runs.
Final Pay: everything owed on the last day.
Garden Leave Cost: if the notice is not worked.

Data sources: good faith obligations are maintained against Employment New Zealand. This page is awaiting review by an employment lawyer and is not legal advice.