News and Publications

On 5 June 2024, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke Van Velden announced that Ministry of Business Innovation Employment will be releasing an exposure draft of a Bill to reform the Holidays Act 2003.  This comes after ongoing discussions about reform over the last six years.

The exposure draft will be publicly released for consultation in September 2024 and will include (along with other changes):

• Pro-rating sick leave, proportional to hours of work. This means, for example that employees who only work 30 hours a week could be entitled to seven and a half sick days a year, while full-time employees receive the usual 10 days;
• Moving from an entitlement system to an accrual system for annual holiday entitlements;
• Simpler methodology for calculating leave without having to rely on data regarding an employee’s daily hours of work;
• Introducing objective criteria for using pay as you go annual holidays and a less burdensome review process; and
• Clarification that only full pay periods are to be included in a proposed new 13-week reference period when calculating average weekly pay for annual holiday calculations.

We are sure employers will be keen to see change and reduction of complexity and look forward to seeing the detail of what is proposed.  Copeland Ashcroft is seeking to be part of initial consultation, which means we could see the draft in July.

Message for Employers

Please feel free to reach out to our team if you have any questions.

Disclaimer: We remind you that while this article provides commentary on employment law, health and safety and immigration topics, it should not be used as a substitute for legal or professional advice for specific situations. Please seek legal advice from your lawyer for any questions specific to your workplace.