Holidays are just around the corner, so we thought it was timely to look at the upcoming public holidays and what they mean for your staff.
Public holidays 2016 / 17
- Christmas Day Sunday 25 December Or Tuesday 27 December 2017
- Boxing Day Monday 26 December 2016
- New Year’s Day Sunday 1 January 2017 Or Tuesday 3 January 2017
- Day after New Year holiday Monday 2 January 2017
USEFUL INFO
- Employees are entitled to a maximum of four public holidays over the
- Christmas / New Year period.
- An employee will only be entitled to a paid day off on the public holiday if that day would otherwise be a working day for them.
Transfer of public holidays
Christmas Day, 25 December 2016 and New Year’s Day, 1 January 2017 fall on a Sunday and are therefore subject to Christmas and New Year public holiday transfer rules.Public holiday Sunday or Tuesday?
If Sunday is normally a working day for the employee, Christmas day is treated as falling on Sunday 25 December, and New Year’s Day as falling on Sunday 1 January.
Where the public holiday is observed on Sunday the following Tuesday will just be an ordinary day for the employee. If they usually work on a Tuesday and you do not require them to work then annual leave or roster changes may be suitable options, subject to the Holidays Act and any relevant terms of employment.
If Sunday is not normally a working day for the employee, Christmas day is treated as falling on Tuesday 27 December 2016, and New Year’s Day on Tuesday 3 January 2017.
Otherwise working day
In most situations, it will be clear if the day the public holiday falls on would otherwise be a working day for an employee.
If an employee would normally work on both the calendar date of the public holiday and the possible mondayisation date, their public holiday is on the calendar date. They don’t get two public holidays.
When an employee does not have a clear work pattern or there is a lot of variation in work times, it may be hard to decide if they would have normally worked on a Saturday or Sunday a public holiday falls on.
If an employer uses a roster system, then this roster may be used to work out whether the day is an otherwise working day. If it’s unclear, the employee and employer need to think about the following:
- What the employment agreement says.
- The employee's usual work patterns.
- If the employee works for the employer only when work is available.
- The employer's rosters or other similar systems.
- The reasonable expectations of the employer and employee as to whether the employee would have worked on that day.
- If the employee would normally have worked if it wasn’t a holiday (public or alternative) or if the employee was on leave (sick or bereavement)
If the day falls during a closedown period, the above factors need to be taken into account as if the closedown period weren’t in effect.
An employer can’t take an employee off the roster on a public holiday, when it’s a day that they would otherwise have worked on, so that they don’t have to give the employee public holiday entitlements.
Frequently asked questions
Q. What happens when a public holiday halls within a period of leave such as annual leave or during a business close down period?
A. If an employee is on annual leave when there’s a public holiday, they get a paid public holiday if they would have normally worked on that day, and do not lose an annual leave day.
A. If a business has a close-down that includes public holidays, for example over the Christmas / New Year period, then the employee is entitled to a paid public holiday if they would have normally worked on that day if the closedown was not in effect.
More information can be found on the Employment New Zealand website, or by contacting your friendly Diprose Miller team.
