Get ready for public holidays
As well as their 4 weeks of annual leave, employees are entitled to 12 public holidays each year (if the public holidays fall on days they’d normally work). Employees who choose to work on public holidays are entitled to be paid time-and-a-half and may get a day’s leave to take later.
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What you need to know
You can only require an employee to work on a public holiday if it’s written into their employment agreement and it’s a day they would usually work. Otherwise, you can ask an employee to work on a public holiday, but they don’t have to agree.
If an employee works on a public holiday they must get paid at least time and a half
if the public holiday falls on what is a normal working day for them, they must also get a paid day off at a later date.
Employment New Zealand has more information if you need help working out what a normal working day is for your employees.
Easter Sunday
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If you’re a shop owner, you may be able to open on Easter Sunday. But you can’t make your employees work that day – and they don’t have to give you a reason.
If you plan to open on Easter Sunday, you must give your employees written notice of their right to refuse to work at least four weeks in advance, but not earlier than eight weeks before.
Easter Sunday is not a public holiday. If you open, you can pay your staff their normal wage. They are not owed an alternative paid holiday.
Matariki
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Matariki is a new public holiday observed for the first time in 2022. The holiday, which marks the beginning of the Māori New Year, is the first to recognise Te Ao Māori. Matariki is considered a standard national public holiday.
Mondayisation
When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, employees who don’t normally work then will have the following Monday as their paid public holiday. This is known as Mondayisation.
These public holidays can be moved to Monday (or in some cases Tuesday) if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday
Waitangi Day – 6 February
Anzac Day – 25 April
Christmas Day – 25 December
Boxing Day – 26 December
New Year's Day – 1 January
Day after New Year's Day – 2 January
If your employees work weekends as well as Mondays, they don’t get both days as public holidays – they just get one.
If public holidays fall inside your annual closedown period, you must pay employees for those that fall on days they’d usually work – including weekend public holidays moved to Monday or Tuesday.
Days in lieu (alternative holidays)
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Employees who are entitled to an alternative holiday get a full day off, no matter how many hours they worked on the public holiday.
They don’t get an alternative day if:
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they wouldn't usually have worked that day
they only work on public holidays
they were on call but didn't have to do anything, and being on call didn't stop them doing what they wanted to do with their day.
If you can't agree on when your employee will take an alternative holiday, you can choose a day for them – but you have to give them 14 days' notice. After 12 months, if they still haven’t taken the day off, you can agree with them to exchange the time off for an extra day's pay.
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Poll: Are our Kiwi summer holidays helping us recharge, or holding the economy back? ☀️🥝
There’s growing debate about whether New Zealand’s extended Christmas break (and the slowdown that comes with it) affects productivity.
Tracy Watkins has weighed in ... now it’s your turn. What’s your take? 🤔
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72.5% We work hard, we deserve a break!
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16.4% Hmm, maybe?
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11.1% Yes!
Secure your homes over summer
Police are reminding people to keep their homes secure during the summer months.
Inspector Glenda Barnaby, Christchurch Area Prevention manager, says daytime burglaries are just as common as nightime burglaries.
“Burglaries can be committed at any time of the day, and coming into warmer months there is more opportunity for thieves."
"Although a majority of burglaries involve forced entry through windows and doors, we are starting to see more incidents at insecure premises. Police deal with cases where burglaries are committed in broad daylight, sometimes even while the victim is at home. Good weather means open doors and windows, which makes homes more vulnerable to burglars.”
Inspector Barnaby says there’s a few things people can do to reduce their changes of a burglary being committed.
⚠️ If you’re going outside for gardening, relaxing in the sun, or working in the garage, take a moment to lock your doors and secure your windows first.
⚠️ Do the same at night when you go to bed - keep your doors and windows secure and close your curtains. Fitting window stays means you can get a breeze coming through, while keeping your windows secure.
⚠️ Get to know your neighbours - let them know if you’re going away and look out for one another.”
If you see any suspicious activity, people or vehicles in your neighbourhood, don't hesitate to contact Police.
If you witness or suspect any illegal activity, please call 111 if it is happening now, or make a report through 105 either online or over the phone, if it is after the fact.
What sectors are barely paying more than minimum wage?
While New Zealand might have about a dozen sectors paying at least a median $100,000 a year, there are almost as many paying barely more than the minimum wage.
Data compiled by Infometrics showed the median and mean salaries across industries throughout the country.
The data does not adjust for hours worked, and some of the workers may not be working a 40-hour week.
But it shows that on an annual basis, many sectors were not delivering incomes that were equal to the minimum wage.
The minimum wage of $23.50 an hour works out to just under $49,000 a year for a full-time, 40-hour a week worker.
Fuel retailing was paying a median of almost exactly the same amount.
Food retailing was paying less, at $45,030. Accommodation was slightly more, at $49,240, and food and beverage services was significantly less at $40,170.
Also within $10,000 of minimum wage were "other store-based retailing" at $53,220, sport and recreation services at $53,350 and personal and other services at $54,170.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment data last year showed that about 141,900 people would be directly affected by the minimum wage rising to $23.50, indicating they were at that point being paid less than that amount per hour.
Infometrics principal economist Nick Brunsdon said skills and experience explained a lot of the variation in incomes.
"Industries that need a more skilled workforce generally pay more - because they can get a lot of value out of their workers, and workers need a good incentive to gain those skills - for example, medicine. Industries that take in a lot of lower qualified staff, like hospitality, can get away with paying a lot less, and still get plenty of job applicants.
"There are other factors like desirability - some jobs might not have a high skill requirement but are somewhat undesirable - say underground coal mining - so higher pay is necessary to find workers."
CTU policy director and economist Craig Enney said "hours adequacy" was a big problem in many sectors.
"You've got someone who's working 20 hours a week or 25 hours, on $25 an hour, so you're earning $500 a week. Is that enough? No.
"The challenge is often about the structure of employment in some of those sectors…In hospo, in retail, in catering, in a range of other sort of service-based industries, it's wanting more hours and not getting it."
The latest labour market statistics showed the the number of underutilised people in the country had risen to 403,000.
"These are people who want more hours, want more work and can't get it. And that may be a key reason why, you know, total incomes are so inadequate for some people. And that's also partially helping to explain why the headline unemployment rate is not rising as quickly as some people had predicted."
Jake Lilley, a spokesperson for financial mentor network Fincap, said it was something mentors dealt with.
"They also help people work out what is realistic in terms of taking on hours while balancing additional childcare costs. Our latest Voices reporting recorded 31 percent of those supported by a financial mentor as having a mix of income from salary or wages as well as income support.
"It is a real juggle to navigate finances when unpredictable sporadic hours of work need reporting to Work and Income in what can be impractical timeframes. An example might be someone being asked to stay on for a longer shift by their manager and being unable to contact Work and Income when that day is the deadline to report other income.
"Someone might also not know exactly what their pay will be until a payslip is provided after the reporting date. Such situations can often result in overpayment debts from Work and Income compounding the difficulty of administering already tight finances."
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