The Public Service Association (PSA) has contacted the Commerce Commission requesting an investigation into ACC for allegedly violating the Fair Trading Act.
The PSA has lodged the complaint with the Commerce Commission after ACC informed staff in October that they must be in the office three days a week starting December 1, an increase from two days.
This was inconsistent with job advertisements that clearly highlighted working from home up to three days a week as a major perk of employment at ACC.
The advertisements were posted from June 2023 through at least July 2025.
“ACC deliberately advertised flexible work arrangements to attract staff and is now looking to break that promise – this is exactly the kind of misleading conduct the Fair Trading Act is designed to prevent,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“Workers made major life decisions – resigning from jobs, relocating, arranging childcare – based on ACC’s advertised working conditions. Many feel deceived and betrayed with the proposed change to its remote working policy.”
Following the PSA’s legal action with the Employment Relations Authority, ACC withdrew the changes and agreed to delay the implementation while consulting with staff, postponing the changes until early next year.
Although the ACC has decided to finally consult staff, the consultation proposal remains unchanged “and doesn’t change the fact that they misled job applicants about working conditions in the first place,” Fitzsimons said.
“The Commerce Commission needs to investigate whether ACC breached the Fair Trading Act, which applies to employment advertising.
“Job seekers deserve accurate information about working conditions, which employers are obliged to honour.”