Can Employees Legally Refuse To Return To The Office In New Zealand?

If you’re running a small business, it can feel like the “return to office” conversation never really ends. Maybe you’ve invested in a lease again, you need your team collaborating in-person, or your customers expect a staffed premises - but you’re dealing with employees who don’t want to return to the office.

The tricky part is that this isn’t just an operational issue. In New Zealand, it can quickly become an employment law issue involving your employment agreements, your good faith obligations, health and safety duties, anti-discrimination risks, and the right process when you’re changing work arrangements.

Below, we’ll break down when an employee may be able to legally refuse to return to the office, what you can (and can’t) direct them to do, and the practical steps to protect your business while handling the situation fairly.

Why Are Employees Refusing To Return To The Office (And Why Does It Matter Legally)?

From an employer perspective, it’s easy to see “return to office” as a straightforward direction: the work is at the workplace, so employees should attend the workplace.

But in practice, there are common reasons employees push back, including:

• Health concerns (including vulnerability, anxiety, or household risk factors).
• Changed family responsibilities (for example, childcare arrangements that formed during remote work periods).
• Productivity and wellbeing preferences (some employees feel they perform better at home).
• Cost and commute pressures (which can become a flashpoint if wages haven’t kept pace).
• They believe their role is now remote because that’s how they’ve been working for a long time.

Legally, these reasons matter because they affect whether:

• your instruction to return is lawful and reasonable,
• a return to office is actually consistent with the employee’s employment agreement,
• you need to consult (and potentially agree) before changing work arrangements, and
• there are health and safety risks or discrimination risks you must manage.

If you’re already dealing with flexible arrangements, it’s worth sanity-checking your legal set-up (including your Employment Contract terms and any relevant policies), because unclear documents are where many disputes start.

Can Employees Legally Refuse To Return To The Office In New Zealand?

There isn’t a single “yes or no” answer - it depends on the employee’s agreement, your workplace policies, the reason for refusal, and whether you follow a fair process.

That said, the central question usually becomes:

Is returning to the office a lawful and reasonable instruction in the circumstances?

1) Start With The Employment Agreement (And What It Says About Location)

Your first step is to check what the employment agreement actually says about:

• place of work (is it a specific office? “as directed”? multiple sites?),
• hours of work (and whether travel between sites is contemplated), and
• flexibility (does it allow working from home, and if so, is it discretionary?).

If the contract clearly sets the office as the normal place of work, you will generally be on stronger ground directing an employee to attend the office.

If the contract is vague, or if the employee has been working remotely for a long period with your approval, it may be harder to treat “back to office full-time” as a simple instruction. Depending on the history and what’s been communicated, it could be viewed as a change to terms and conditions that should be consulted on (and in some cases agreed), rather than unilaterally imposed.

Remote work arrangements often evolve informally over time. If you need help tightening this up going forward, it’s usually better to update your documentation and expectations early rather than trying to “enforce” a grey area later. Our team regularly helps employers clarify working arrangements through a tailored Employment Contract and supporting policies.

2) Consider Your Good Faith Obligations

In New Zealand, employment relationships are built on good faith (under the Employment Relations Act). In practical terms, that means you should:

• communicate openly about why you want a return to office,
• provide relevant information (for example, business reasons, customer needs, supervision needs),
• listen to employee feedback and genuinely consider alternatives, and
• avoid surprising employees with sudden changes without a reasonable lead-in time.

Even where you ultimately decide office attendance is required, how you get there matters. A heavy-handed approach can create legal risk (and retention risk) that’s disproportionate to the operational benefit.

3) Health And Safety Still Applies (In Both Directions)

You have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act to provide a work environment without risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable.

That cuts both ways:

• If an employee raises a genuine safety concern about returning to the workplace, you should assess it properly (not dismiss it).
• In some situations, workers may be able to refuse or cease work if they reasonably believe doing the work would expose them (or others) to a serious risk to health or safety. If this is raised, it’s important to assess the risk and document the steps you’ve taken to address it.
• If your workplace is safe and the risk is managed, you may be able to maintain a requirement to attend work.
• If remote work is causing safety issues (for example, unsafe home workstation setups), you still need to manage those too - working from home isn’t “risk free” for an employer.

If your business is working through the legal and practical side of remote work arrangements, this is exactly the kind of situation where a clear approach to working from home expectations can prevent disputes.

Common “Legally Safer” Reasons For Refusing To Return (And How Employers Should Respond)

When you’re dealing with employees who won’t return to the office, it helps to separate two things:

• Can they refuse? (legal justification / protections)
• Should you accommodate? (practical risk management, retention, and good faith)

Here are some common scenarios where you should slow down and handle things carefully.

1) Health Issues, Vulnerability, Or Medical Advice

If an employee says they can’t return due to health reasons (physical or mental), treat that as a serious issue and gather appropriate information.

Practical steps you can take include:

• asking the employee what adjustments they’re seeking (for example, hybrid work, different hours, different workstation location),
• requesting medical information where appropriate (and only what you reasonably need),
• considering temporary adjustments while you assess longer-term solutions, and
• documenting your process and your reasoning.

Be mindful that health information is sensitive. How you collect, store and share it within the business needs to be handled carefully, and many employers choose to formalise expectations in an Employee Privacy Handbook.

2) Disability And Reasonable Accommodations

If the employee’s situation involves disability (including long-term health conditions), you should consider whether adjustments can be made so they can perform their role. Depending on the circumstances, a refusal to consider reasonable adjustments can increase legal risk, including under anti-discrimination laws (for example, the Human Rights Act) and through personal grievance processes.

From a risk-management perspective, this is an area where employers can accidentally walk into discrimination issues if decisions are rushed or poorly documented.

3) Flexible Working Requests

Sometimes “refusing to return to the office” is really a request for flexible work - hybrid hours, remote days, or adjusted start/finish times to manage caregiving responsibilities.

In New Zealand, employees can make a statutory request for flexible working arrangements, and employers must deal with it properly (including responding within the required timeframe and only refusing on recognised business grounds). Even if your business can’t accommodate the request, a careful process helps you show you acted reasonably and in good faith. Also, if you do offer flexibility, you’ll want it documented consistently so expectations are clear across the team.

4) Genuine Safety Concerns About The Workplace

If an employee says the office is unsafe (for example, threats, violence, harassment, or other hazards), treat it as a workplace issue first, not a performance issue.

Depending on the situation, you may need to:

• investigate the concern,
• implement controls (physical security, seating changes, access control, policies), and
• consider interim arrangements (including temporary remote work).

If your response involves monitoring, security cameras, or collecting information about staff movements, it’s worth checking you’re on the right side of privacy expectations and staff communications. For example, employers commonly ask whether cameras in the workplace are lawful and how to introduce them properly.

A Practical Employer Step-By-Step Plan To Handle Employees Refusing To Return To The Office

You don’t need to guess your way through this. A consistent, well-documented process is often the difference between a workable outcome and an employment dispute.

Step 1: Clarify The Business Reason For Returning

Be specific. “Because we want people in the office” is rarely persuasive on its own.

Stronger reasons include:

• customer-facing requirements,
• training and supervision needs,
• confidentiality or security requirements,
• health and safety supervision,
• team coordination that can’t be done effectively remotely.

If you can’t clearly articulate the reason, it’s usually a sign you may not be ready to require a full return - or you should consider a hybrid approach instead.

Step 2: Check Your Documents (Contracts, Policies, Letters)

Before you announce a return-to-office direction, check:

• your employment agreements and any written working-from-home arrangements,
• workplace policies (flexible work, health and safety, conduct), and
• any past emails or representations that could have created expectations.

If your policies are outdated (or don’t exist), that’s when a tailored Workplace Policy set can make a big difference - not only to support the return, but to ensure consistent treatment across the team.

Step 3: Consult Early (Especially If You’re Changing Arrangements)

If employees have been remote for a meaningful period, or if you’re proposing a significant change (for example, from fully remote to fully office-based), consultation is your friend.

Consultation doesn’t mean employees get a veto, but it does mean you should:

• raise the proposal and the reasons,
• give employees a chance to respond,
• genuinely consider what they say, and
• confirm the outcome (and next steps) in writing.

Step 4: Consider Reasonable Alternatives (Hybrid, Phased Return, Adjusted Hours)

From a small business point of view, the goal is usually to get the business outcome you need without escalating to conflict.

Common middle-ground options include:

• phased returns (for example, 1–2 days per week increasing over time),
• hybrid schedules with set anchor days,
• split shifts or adjusted start/finish times to avoid peak commute,
• role-based approaches (different expectations depending on duties).

Just be careful: inconsistency is where claims often start. If one employee is allowed to work remotely indefinitely while another is disciplined for the same arrangement, you’ll want a clear, objective basis for that difference.

Step 5: Confirm The Direction In Writing (Clear, Calm, Practical)

If you decide attendance is required, put it in writing with:

• the expected work location and days,
• the start date and any transition period,
• who to talk to if there’s a problem, and
• how requests for flexibility will be assessed (including any formal flexible working request process you want staff to use).

This doesn’t need to be aggressive. It should read like a business decision supported by a fair process.

When Does Refusing To Return Become Misconduct (And What Process Should You Follow)?

Sometimes, employees not returning to the office is genuinely about health, family needs, or misunderstanding expectations. Other times, it’s a refusal to follow a lawful and reasonable instruction.

If the instruction is lawful and reasonable, and the employee refuses without a valid justification, you may be able to treat this as a performance or misconduct issue. But the process matters a lot.

1) Don’t Jump Straight To Discipline

Before you head down a disciplinary pathway, make sure you’ve done the groundwork:

• checked the contract and policies,
• clearly explained the requirement and why,
• considered any personal circumstances raised (including whether any protected ground of discrimination may be engaged, such as disability or family status), and
• given the employee a reasonable opportunity to comply.

If you move too fast, you risk an argument that you acted unfairly or didn’t follow good faith obligations.

2) Use A Fair Performance/Disciplinary Process

If the refusal continues, treat it like any other significant workplace issue: raise it formally, allow the employee to respond, consider the response, and only then decide on next steps.

This is where many small businesses benefit from getting advice early, particularly around letters, meeting scripts, and decision-making criteria. It’s often far cheaper to prevent an issue than to defend a claim later. If you need support, an Employment Lawyer can help you map the correct process for your situation.

Also, if you’re in a broader performance management scenario (for example, the employee is already underperforming remotely and you want them back for supervision), make sure you’re handling the issue in a structured way. A careful approach to performance management can reduce the risk of “process” becoming the main dispute.

3) Consider Whether The Role Can Still Be Done Remotely

A question that often comes up in disputes is: if the employee can do their job remotely, why is office attendance necessary?

You don’t need to prove remote work is impossible - but you should be able to justify why office attendance is reasonably required for the role or the business.

Where office attendance truly isn’t required, you may decide it’s commercially sensible to allow remote work (with clear parameters). Where it is required, document the “why”.

4) Avoid “Workarounds” That Create New Legal Risk

When employers feel stuck, it can be tempting to try quick fixes - for example, cutting shifts or reducing hours to pressure a return.

Be careful. Changing hours and duties can trigger other legal issues and may require agreement/consultation depending on the circumstances. If you’re considering changes like this, it’s worth reading up on reducing staff hours and getting tailored advice first.

Key Takeaways

• In New Zealand, an employee refusing to return to the office isn’t automatically “illegal” or “legal” - it depends on the employment agreement, the reason for refusal, and whether returning is a lawful and reasonable instruction.
• Start with the contract and any written remote work arrangements, then assess whether a full return is a change that requires consultation (and potentially agreement).
• Good faith obligations matter: communicate early, explain the business reasons, consider employee feedback, and document your process.
• Take health and safety concerns seriously, and remember workers may have protections if they reasonably believe work is unsafe. Handle health information carefully, as it may be sensitive personal information.
• Flexible work is also a legal process issue in NZ: employees can make formal flexible working requests, and employers must respond properly and only refuse on recognised business grounds.
• Where refusal continues without a valid reason, you may be able to manage it as a misconduct/performance issue - but only with a fair process and clear written expectations.
• Clear contracts and policies reduce confusion and help you treat employees consistently, which lowers the risk of disputes.

If you’d like help managing a return-to-office process, updating your workplace documents, or responding to employees refusing to return to the office, you can reach us at 0800 002 184 or team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.