🎄 Christmas 2025 Holiday Pay - What You Need to Know 🎄

Stephanie from Sunnynook

🎄 Christmas 2025 Holiday Pay - What NZ Employers Need to Know 🎄
With Christmas fast approaching, it’s important to make sure your team is paid correctly over the holiday period - especially with holiday legislation changes on the horizon.
👉 Good news: For Christmas 2025, the current Holidays Act rules still apply.

Here’s a simple breakdown 👇
✅ Employees with 12+ months service
• Entitled to 4 weeks paid annual leave
• Pay the higher of:
👉 Ordinary Weekly Pay or Average Weekly Earnings
📌 Full-time example
• 8 hrs/day × 5 days = 40 hrs/week
• $1,200 per week = $240 per leave day
📌 Part-time example
• 3 hrs/day × 4 days = 12 hrs/week
• $300 per week = $75 per leave day
✅ Employees with less than 12 months service
• Not yet entitled to annual leave
• If your business closes down over Christmas, they must still be paid holiday pay for the closedown period (usually paid via payroll accruals or 8% of gross earnings under current law)
🎁 Christmas & New Year Public Holidays
• Christmas Day (25 Dec)
• Boxing Day (26 Dec)
• New Year’s Day (1 Jan)
✔️ If the day is a normal working day, employees are paid for it
✔️ If they work on a public holiday:
➡️ Time and a half + an alternative paid day off
🔔 Important – Changes Coming
The Holidays Act will eventually be replaced by a new Employment Leave Act, moving to hours-based leave accrual and simplified calculations.
⚠️ These changes are not in force yet, so Christmas 2025 still follows current rules.
💬 Need help checking your payroll or holiday calculations?
📧 Email: info@corefigures.co.nz
🌐 Website: corefigures.co.nz...
✨ Feel free to share this with other NZ business owners ✨