The message is clear: stalking is not always a private matter.
New Zealand's new stalking and harassment offence is primarily a criminal law reform, but its impact will extend well beyond the criminal courts. For employers, it raises important considerations around workplace health and safety, employee wellbeing, privacy, and workplace conduct.
The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Act 2025, which came into force on 26 May 2026, introduces a standalone offence of stalking and harassment carrying a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. The offence applies where a person engages in a pattern of specified stalking behaviours on at least two occasions within a two-year period, knowing their actions are likely to cause fear or distress.
While stalking is often viewed as a private matter, many stalking behaviours occur in or around the workplace, making it a significant employment law and health and safety issue.
Why Employers Should Pay Attention
The legislation captures a broad range of behaviours, including following or monitoring someone, repeatedly contacting them, turning up at their workplace, using technology to track or surveil them, damaging their reputation or workplace relationships, and involving organisations or third parties as part of a pattern of harassment.
As a result, employers may find themselves dealing with situations where an employee is stalking a colleague, workplace systems or information are being used to target a former partner, a customer or client is harassing an employee, or an external individual is repeatedly attending a workplace to target a worker. There is also the risk that personal information held by an employer could be misused to locate, monitor, or contact another person.
These situations can raise complex employment, health and safety, and privacy issues, requiring employers to take a proactive and carefully considered approach.
Health and Safety Obligations
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, employers must eliminate or minimise workplace risks so far as is reasonably practicable, including risks to workers' psychological health and wellbeing.
Where an employer becomes aware that an employee is being stalked and the behaviour has a connection to the workplace, failing to take appropriate action could expose the organisation to legal and health and safety risk.
What constitutes a reasonable response will depend on the circumstances. Employers may need to assess the risks posed to the affected employee and others, implement appropriate security measures, adjust work arrangements or contact details, restrict access to workplace premises, and provide wellbeing support such as EAP services. In some cases, employers may also need to support employees who wish to engage with Police and ensure managers are equipped to respond appropriately to safety concerns.
In serious situations, stalking may need to be managed in much the same way as family violence or other significant workplace safety risks, with a focus on early intervention, risk management, and employee protection.
Workplace Conduct and Good Faith
Many stalking behaviours may already breach workplace policies relating to bullying, harassment, social media use, workplace technology, or respectful conduct.
Where an employee is accused of stalking a colleague, employers must follow a fair and impartial process consistent with their obligations under the Employment Relations Act 2000. A Police investigation does not prevent an employer from conducting its own workplace investigation, provided procedural fairness is maintained.
Employers should avoid jumping to conclusions. Equally, they should not delay taking reasonable steps to protect affected employees while workplace concerns are being investigated.
Privacy and Technology Risks
A notable feature of the new legislation is its recognition of technology-enabled stalking, including tracking, monitoring, surveillance, and unwanted digital communications. As technology plays an increasingly significant role in how people work and communicate, employers need to be mindful of how workplace systems and information could be misused.
This includes reviewing employee access to personnel records, GPS-enabled vehicles and devices, security systems and CCTV, workplace messaging platforms, customer databases, and personal information held by HR. Employers should ensure access to sensitive information is limited to those with a legitimate business need and that appropriate monitoring and audit controls are in place.
Inappropriate access to workplace information can have significant employment, health and safety, and privacy law consequences. Robust policies, regular training, and strong information security practices can help minimise the risk of workplace systems being used to locate, monitor, or harass individuals.
Misconduct and Serious Misconduct
Employees who engage in stalking behaviour may face disciplinary action, including dismissal in serious cases.
Whether dismissal is justified will depend on the particular circumstances, including the nature and seriousness of the conduct, its impact on the workplace, any resulting health and safety concerns, and the effect on colleagues and workplace relationships. As with any disciplinary matter, employers must ensure a fair and reasonable process is followed before making decisions about misconduct or serious misconduct.
Importantly, conduct occurring outside work may still justify disciplinary action where it creates workplace risks, affects other employees, damages workplace relationships, or undermines the trust and confidence necessary for the employment relationship to continue. The key question will often be whether there is a sufficient connection between the conduct and the workplace to warrant employer intervention.
Practical Steps for Employers
The new legislation provides a timely opportunity for employers to review their policies, procedures, and workplace practices. This includes ensuring bullying and harassment policies are up to date, reviewing workplace violence and safety procedures, training managers to recognise stalking behaviours, strengthening privacy and information access controls, and establishing clear escalation processes for employee safety concerns. Employers should also ensure appropriate support is available for affected employees and review visitor management and workplace security arrangements where necessary.
The Bottom Line
The new stalking and harassment offence reflects growing recognition of the serious psychological harm that persistent unwanted behaviour can cause and the risks it can create for individuals and organisations alike.
For employers, the message is clear: stalking is not always a private matter. When stalking behaviour intersects with the workplace, employers need to carefully consider their obligations relating to health and safety, good faith, privacy, and workplace conduct. Early intervention and a proactive response can help protect employees while reducing legal and organisational risk.
BuckettLaw assists employers and employees with workplace issues involving harassment, stalking allegations, health and safety obligations, privacy concerns, and disciplinary processes arising from the new legislation.
