By Vaughan Granier
While Kiwi public holidays can be a dream for employees, they mostly pose headaches for employers. Luckily, HR Assured has prepared this ready-to-use guide listing everything you need to know – the when, where, and what you need to expect and potentially budget.
Many of the key questions you’re likely to have about running a business in New Zealand are easily anticipated and answered – after all, HR Assured is all about making managing people simple to free you up so you can get on with business.
Let’s go through an HR guide to the public holidays coming up for the rest of 2023 and how they affect you:
- Regional Anniversary Day Variable – one per region
- Good Friday – Friday 7 April
- Easter Monday – Monday 10 April
- ANZAC Day – Tuesday 25 April
- King’s Birthday – Monday 5 June
- Matariki – Friday 14 July (this changes every year)
- Labour Day – Monday 23 October
- Christmas Day – Monday 25 December
- Boxing Day – Tuesday 26 December
What ‘Mondayised’ public holidays mean
Monday 10 April (Easter Monday) is the first one you may need to consider.
“Mondayisation” is the term for when a public holiday that falls on a weekend day, is observed on the next following working day (usually a Monday) so that all workers can get the public holiday benefit.
For example, earlier this year the day after New Year’s Day was Mondayised because it fell on a Saturday. Workers who normally would have worked on Saturday 2 January received a public holiday entitlement, and so did workers who wouldn’t have worked on the Saturday but would have usually worked on Monday 4 January.
There are four typical scenarios in which workers require different holiday pay entitlements:
1. Employee is working on a public holiday but it’s not a normal working day for them.
You’re required to pay them at least time and a half, or their on-call allowance, for working the holiday, without the entitlement of an alternative day off.
2. Employee doesn’t work on a public holiday, and it’s not normally a day they would work.
You’re not required to pay them for the holiday as it’s not an ordinary working day. For example, someone rostered Monday to Thursday when Christmas Day falls on a Friday.
3. Employee doesn’t work the public holiday but the public holiday would otherwise be a normal working day.
You must pay them their normal daily pay and the day off.
4. Employee works on the public holiday, including on-call, and it’s a day your employee would normally work.
You must pay them at least time and a half, or their on-call allowance, plus they should get a full alternative day off (day in lieu), unless you only employ them to work on public holidays.
Can I ask my employee to work on a public holiday?
Your employee can only be required to work on a public holiday if their employment agreement states that they must work when a public holiday falls on their normal working day, or, if they agree to.
You can ask an employee to work on a public holiday, keeping in mind that your request must be reasonable.
Your employees are entitled to 12 public holidays a year. However, they’re only entitled to a paid public holiday if it falls on their normal day of work.
An employee may refuse the request to work a public holiday if:
- Your request is not reasonable; or
- Their refusal is reasonable.
Here are the factors to consider when determining if a request (or refusal) to work on a public holiday is reasonable:
- The employee’s personal circumstances (e.g. family or carer’s responsibilities).
- The business’s operational requirements can be considered (how badly do I need the employee to work that day?).
- Whether the employee could reasonably expect to be asked to work on the public holiday.
- Whether the employee would be compensated with penalty payments, overtime etc.
- The amount of notice in advance that you gave when making the request, and by the employee when refusing the request.
- Public holidays in a leave period.
- If your business has an office closedown, or an employee is on leave, and a public holiday falls within that period, your workers are still entitled to a paid public holiday that will not be counted as an annual leave day.
Casual workers: are they entitled to anything on public holidays?
Casual employees aren’t entitled to alternative days or holiday pay entitlements for working on public holidays.
Accident Compensation Corporation or parental leave: what happens next?
If you’re not currently paying an employee because they’re on Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) leave or parental leave, you’re not required to pay them for any public holidays during the unpaid leave period. However, do note that ACC leave is regarded as continuous employment and so annual leave entitlements will still accrue.
Shift worker? On call?
On-call and shift work are notoriously complex arrangements for working out the public holiday entitlements. Employees who work a shift and work on a public holiday should receive time and a half for the hours they work. If they would have ordinarily worked on that day, then they also are entitled to an alternative holiday.
For on-call employees, the public holiday entitlement will depend on the type of arrangement you have with that employee. Usually, public holiday entitlements would apply if the employee was unable to enjoy a full holiday due to their on-call requirements.
Can public holidays be swapped or substituted?
Sometimes you might have a business reason, or your employee may have a personal reason, for observing a public holiday on a different calendar day. To swap a public holiday you must have agreement in writing.
Please contact the team at HR Assured to clarify which holiday entitlements to apply.
I’ve terminated an employee, or they have resigned. Are they owed any public holiday money?
Upon termination or resignation of an employee’s service, you must pay them for any public holidays that would have fallen in their available leave period, as if they had taken their annual leave entitlement from the day after the last day of their notice period. For example, someone whose last day of service is 31 January and who has two weeks leave owed to them would get paid out for the public holiday of Waitangi Day on 6 February.
HR Assured is here to help with all your questions about New Zealand public holidays.
We also have a guide answering some of your most common questions about paying public holidays and handling Easter and Anzac Day.
Juggling the different rules and requirements over the Easter and Anzac Day holidays can be tricky – which is why HR Assured is here to help with intuitive workflows and 24/7 telephone advice.
If you would like to discuss any matters relating to Easter, ANZAC Day, trading rules and more, get in touch with our friendly team of Kiwi experts at HR Assured.
Vaughan Granier is the National Workplace Relations Manager for HR Assured NZ. He has over 24 years’ experience in international human resources, health and safety, and workplace relations management. With over 10 years working in New Zealand and Australian companies, he provides in-depth support to leadership teams across all areas of HR, Health and Safety, and employee management.