NEWS

Here's a short overview to help clear up any confusion you may have with working out holidays and holiday pay for your staff...

Employees get a paid day off on public holidays if it’s an otherwise working day for them.

If they work on a public holiday they’re paid time and a half and may get an alternative day off instead. Some public holidays are Mondayised (or Tuesdayised) if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday if those days were not days that an employee would otherwise work on.

An employee is entitled to a public holiday only if the public holiday falls on a day that the employee would otherwise have worked (if the day hadn’t been a public holiday).

Sometimes, if a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday and the employee does not usually work on those days, the public holiday is Mondayised (or Tuesdayised).

Each employee can get a maximum of 11 public holidays a year, for example:

• if a public holiday is Mondayised, they can’t claim two public holidays (ie one for the actual date and one for the Mondayised date)
• an employee can’t be entitled to more than four public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period, regardless of their work pattern.
• if the employee is usually based in Auckland, but is temporarily based in Wellington, the Anniversary Day to be observed is a matter to be agreed by the employer and the employee, but the employee can only claim one Anniversary Day per year. Both parties can agree to transfer the observance of the public holiday if they wish. If they cannot reach an agreement, then the employee is entitled to observe the anniversary of the province that they usually work in (Auckland, in this example). If they were to work on the day, they’d be paid time and a half, plus an alternative day.

 

Transferring a public holiday

What an employee gets for a public holiday depends on:

• whether or not they actually work on the holiday (or on the day the public holiday has been transferred to), and
• whether or not the day is a day they would otherwise have worked were it not for the fact that it was a public holiday.

An employee can only be made to work on a public holiday if:

• it falls on a day that they would have otherwise worked on, and
• their employment agreement says they have to work on the public holiday.

If an employee is required to be available to work on a public holidays that doesn’t fall within their agreed and guaranteed hours, this must be covered by an availability clause in their employment agreement. The employer will have to pay reasonable compensation for this unless there is agreement that reasonable compensation is provided through their salary. The employer must also have genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds for including an availability provision and for requiring the employee to be available on the public holiday. For more information about availability provisions, see Hours of work.

In all other circumstances, an employee only works on a public holiday if they agree to.

Click here to view the full article on the Employment New Zealand website.

 

Disclaimer

This information is intended to provide general advice only.  We recommend you discuss your specific situation with your Accountant.