The PM has flagged changes to leave entitlements for some workers
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is suggesting the Government will soon announce Holidays Act reform that cuts sick leave entitlements for part-time workers.
It follows last year’s proposed changes to the plagued legislation that sought to help businesses the Government says are struggling with the Labour decision to double sick leave for all eligible workers.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB ahead of his trip to China and Europe, Luxon was asked about sick leave entitlements and said an announcement was incoming.
“We might need to do things about pro-rating sick leave as well because people who were on part-time contracts are getting fulltime 10-day equivalency, so Brooke van Velden’s working through some of those issues.”
Luxon said the changes would be announced alongside other related reform by van Velden in her capacity as Workplace Relations Minister.
In a statement, van Velden said she hoped to make an announcement in the coming months about pro-rated sick leave.
She confirmed it would not involve a reduction from 10 days to five days, which Luxon suggested van Velden was looking into on RNZ this morning.
Green Party Workplace Relations spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said changing sick leave entitlements was “nothing short of an attack on the morale and productivity of our workforce”.
“The Government is making a habit of revealing such changes at the start of Winter when seasonal illnesses, flu and Covid are placing many families under strain,” he said.
He reiterated his party’s policy of five weeks of annual leave for all.
Pro-rating sick leave would mean part-time workers would be allocated this type of leave based on how many hours or days they worked.
This approach was proposed in an exposure draft of a bill amending the Holidays Act announced by van Velden in June last year.
“Workplaces that rely on part-time workers are particularly vulnerable to unexpected staffing shortages. To explore this issue further, the exposure draft set for consultation will include a proposed approach to pro-rating sick leave, to better reflect how much an employee works,” she said in a June 2024 press release.
The draft also proposed changing how annual leave was provided, moving from an entitlement system to an accrual system.
In December, following consultation, van Velden admitted the draft bill would not solve the issues with the Holidays Act and had told officials to re-think the changes.
“Not only have I heard from submitters that further simplification is possible, but there were some who believed that what we put out for consultation was more complex and had higher compliance costs than the legislation we have now.”
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A riddle to start the festive season 🌲🎁🌟
I'm a fruit. If you take away my first letter, I'm a crime. If you take away my first two letters, I'm an animal. If you take away my first and last letter, I'm a form of music. What am I?
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Poll: Should we be giving the green light to new mining projects? 💰🌲
The Environmental Protection Authority announced this week that a proposed mine in Central Otago (near Cromwell) is about to enter its fast-track assessment process. A final decision could come within six months, and if it’s approved, construction might start as early as mid-2026.
We want to know: Should mining projects like this move ahead?
Keen to dig deeper? Mike White has the scoop.
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53.3% Yes
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46.7% No
Thousands of police warnings could be wiped because of protocol breaches
Thousands of formal warnings issued by police could be wiped from official records and compulsory training for all staff has been introduced because police haven't followed proper protocol for years, the Herald can reveal. Relying on formal warnings during police vetting has also been stopped nationwide because of the botch-up, and police are now inviting anyone who has concerns about a formal warning they've received to contact police and request a review of their records.
The background: Deficiencies in the formal warning system were first identified in 2021, after a High Court judge found the way warnings were issued breached the law. Central to the court’s ruling was that police didn’t understand that for a formal warning to be issued, a suspect must accept responsibility for their offending, and there must be sufficient evidence to prove the offence. After that ruling, police said they’d review their policies. However, the Herald has learned that four years since flaws were first identified, significant issues remain. A review conducted last year found that of a sample of 467 warnings issued between 2019 and 2024, only 171 were compliant. Police said those found to have breached policy were then wiped from official records.
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