Organising and understanding holding pay for your employees can be confusing. Below are various scenarios and what to do in terms of holiday pay and planning for this time. An employee gets an alternative day off for working on a public holiday that is an otherwise working day. We can guide you with your financial planning for the holiday season.
Working out what an employee gets paid for taking a day off on annual holidays will depend partly on what they have earned in the previous 12 months. This is because they must be paid for holidays at these average weekly earnings if they exceed the employee’s ordinary weekly pay as at the beginning of the holiday.
If you are unsure, find out more about how to calculate payment rates for holidays and leave at Employment New Zealand, or using Wolters Kluwer's New Zealand Workforce Manager. Remember, Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on a Sunday this year.
For an employee working on these days who wouldn’t normally work on Sundays, the public holiday is treated as falling on the following Tuesday and if your employee would normally work on a Sunday, then the public holiday is treated as falling on Sunday (the calendar date of the public holiday).
Whichever day the entitlement falls on for them, if the employee works on that day, they will get time and a half for any time they have agreed to spend working on that day. If the public holiday falls on what would otherwise be a working day for them, and they work on that day, they are entitled to an alternative holiday.
We understand that holiday pay can be confusing and a challenge to understand, contact us here for advice on holiday pay and financial planning for this time.