The anti-discrimination laws recognise two types of sexual harassment:

• Requests for sexual contact – It’s unlawful for someone to ask you for sex or any other form of sexual contact if there’s also a promise that you’ll be treated better because of it or a threat that you’ll be treated worse if you refuse. The promise or threat can be explicit or implicit.
• Offensive or unwelcome sexual behaviour – It’s unlawful for someone to subject you to sexual behaviour that:
  • you find unwelcome or offensive (whether or not you make this known to the other person). The offensive or unwelcome behaviour might involve written or spoken language (such as sexual jokes), visual material (such as sexually explicit posters), or physical behaviour (such as patting or pinching you), and
  • is significant enough to have a harmful effect on you in that particular area of life (such as education). The behaviour might be significant either because there was a single significant incident or because something relatively minor was repeated.

Note: Sexual or racial harassment at work is illegal under both the Human Rights Act 1993 and the Employment Relations Act 2000 (see: “Personal grievances”). If you’re sexually or racially harassed in your workplace, you have the option of either going to the Human Rights Commission under the Human Rights Act or taking a personal grievance under the Employment Relations Act, but not both. The Human Rights Act also covers you if you’re harassed when applying for a job or doing volunteer work, but the Employment Relations Act doesn’t.

The anti-discrimination laws make racial harassment illegal if it happens in an area of public life, like employment, housing, education, or government services. The first action you can take is complaining to the Human Rights Commission.

Saying or writing racist things (“inciting racial hostility”) can also be illegal under the anti-discrimination laws.

Human Rights Act 1993, s 63

Racial harassment is language, visual material or physical behaviour that:

• expresses hostility against you or brings you into contempt or ridicule because of your colour, race, or ethnic or national origins, and
• is hurtful or offensive to you (whether or not you make this known to the other person), and
• is either repeated or is significant enough to have a detrimental effect on you in the particular area of life. It might be significant either because there was a single significant incident or because something relatively minor was repeated.

Human Rights Act 1993, ss 61, 131

In some cases, it’s illegal to say, or to write and publish, things that are threatening, abusive or insulting towards groups who live in or might come to New Zealand, when those things are said or written because of the group’s race, ethnicity, or nationality.