Legal bills at HEALTH NEW ZEALAND for 76 vaccine mandate cases to date
Erika Whittome made this Official Information request to Health New Zealand
The request was refused by Health New Zealand.
From: Erika Whittome
Dear Health New Zealand,
According to HNZ00096379 response dated 25 Sept 2025:
"Across Health NZ, there were 20 cases of personal grievances due to unjustified disadvantage arising from vaccine mandates and 56 cases of personal grievances due to unjustified dismissal, a total of 76 cases. Of the 56 cases of unjustified dismissal, four cases relate to a breach of contract.
Of the 20 cases of unjustified disadvantage, one case relates to a breach of contract."
1. Would you please share the total cost to date of all legal costs responding to vaccine mandate claims with mediations, the Employment Relations Authority and in the Employment Court or any other courts?
2. Please include any disbursements as well, eg travel, accommodation, meals etc to any third party legal workers.
3. There are around 52 "preferred" law firms used by the government . Would you please share the spend to date outsourcing these cases to such law firms by DHB district?
4. What is the total of settlements paid out to date by DHB district across the whole country?
For example a response to OIA HNZ00087554 says that Waikato DHB terminated 95 staff has spent $327,893.69 on settlements. "As of 16 July 2025, the total sum paid as a result of settlements is $327,893.69."
5. What is the total number of terminations per DHB district from vaccine mandates in 2021 and 2022?
6. Are any of these terminated health workers reinstated or back working at the DHB? Please provide the total number by DHB district back working.
Yours faithfully,
Erika Whittome
From: hnzOIA
Tçnâ koe,
Thank you for your email.
Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.
If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?
Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.
You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand
We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.
Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
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https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Erika
Thank you for your request for information regarding legal costs
disbursements and settlements on 9 May 2026. Please find attached our
response to your request.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][email address]
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a
complaint to the Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available
at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi,
Anthea
Government Services
[3][email address]
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
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1. mailto:[Health New Zealand request email]
2. file:///tmp/
3. mailto:[email address]
From: Erika Whittome
Dear hnzOIA,
The requested information has not been supplied. I refer to
Question 4:
4. What is the total of settlements paid out to date by DHB district across the whole
country?
You have only supplied 2024. What about 2021-2024 please?
Question 1 & 2
" our staff would have to manually review all individual pleadings across all districts. Health NZ would need to divert personnel from their other core duties and allocate extra time to complete this task...
, your request for costs associated with inhouse human resource or legal
input under section 18(g) of the OIA as the information is not held by Health NZ and we have no
grounds to believe that the information is held by another entity subject to the OIA."
So you pay the legal costs about cases for cases from people who don't even work there anymore, but don't have break downs. Is that correct? Is there not a cost center in your Oracle financials system for legal costs?
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: hnzOIA
Tçnâ koe,
Thank you for your email.
Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.
If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?
Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.
You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand
We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.
Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-healt...
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-healt...
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Erika
Thank you for your request for official information, received on 20 June
2026 for:
The requested information has not been supplied. I refer to Question 4:
4. What is the total of settlements paid out to date by DHB district
across the whole country?
You have only supplied 2024. What about 2021-2024 please?
Question 1 & 2
" our staff would have to manually review all individual pleadings across
all districts. Health NZ would need to divert personnel from their other
core duties and allocate extra time to complete this task...
, your request for costs associated with inhouse human resource or legal
input under section 18(g) of the OIA as the information is not held by
Health NZ and we have no grounds to believe that the information is held
by another entity subject to the OIA."
So you pay the legal costs about cases for cases from people who don't
even work there anymore, but don't have break downs. Is that correct? Is
there not a cost center in your Oracle financials system for legal costs?
For context, Health NZ launched on 1 July 2022 replacing 20 independent
District Health Boards (DHBs) all with their own systems, structures and
functions. This means that as it is currently worded, your request for
total of settlements paid out to date by DHB districts for 2021 – 2024
would require substantial manual collation and research to respond to and
may therefore be refused under section 18(f) of the Official Information
Act.
For us to collate the information in a manner that is feasible retrievable
we would like to invite you to refine your request for the total of
settlements paid out to one or two districts (of your choice) for the
period between 1 July 2022 - 30 June 2024.
If this is acceptable to you, please specify which district/s you would
like information on.
Please note, as our response provided (reference: HNZ00203454) any
settlement amount provided will not be limited to vaccine mandate claims.
Please note, under section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA),
any clarification or amendments made to a request within seven days after
the date it is received, that request may be treated as a new request and
the time limit for the response restarts.
If we do not hear from you by 5pm Friday, 26 June 2026 we will proceed to
make a decision on your request based on our interpretation of it.
Ngâ mihi
Anthea
Government Services
[1][email address]
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Erika
Thank you for your request for information regarding legal costs
disbursements and settlements on 20 June 2026. Please find attached our
response to your request.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][email address]
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a
complaint to the Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available
at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi,
Anthea
Government Services
[3][email address]
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Health New Zealand request email]
2. file:///tmp/
3. mailto:[email address]
From: Erika Whittome
Dear hnzOIA,
Your response says "we are working to centralise the current and future information. Until the centralisation
is complete, we are reliant on individual districts and how they maintain their information. Prior to 1
July 2022 each DHB maintained its own systems for reporting information."
My understanding is that there is one Oracle Financials for all the DHBs. It's all in one database, so it's just a matter of extracting and sharing it according to cost code and cost center. Would you kindly supply the requested information on the legal costs 2 July 2022 onwards please?
Yours sincerely,
Erika Whittome
From: hnzOIA
Tçnâ koe,
Thank you for your email.
Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.
If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?
Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.
You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand
We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.
Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-healt...
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-healt...
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Erika
Thank you for your request for information regarding legal costs
disbursements and settlements on 1 July 2026. Please find attached our
response to your request.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][email address]
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a
complaint to the Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available
at [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi,
Anthea
Government Services
[3][email address]
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Health New Zealand request email]
2. file:///tmp/
3. mailto:[email address]
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