Bad year for getting a day off on the company

Normally, Kiwis who work a Monday-to-Friday week enjoy 11 public holidays, but not this year. Photo / Greg Bowker

New Zealanders will get fewer days off this year because two key public holidays fall at the weekends.

We usually also get an extra day off on Waitangi Day, but this year February 6 is a Saturday.

Waitangi Day is one of the two public holidays that commemorate a specific historical event, so it is always observed on that date and is never "Monday-ised". So no holiday that day for the workers.

The other is Anzac Day on April 25. This year, it falls on a Sunday. So no holiday there for you either.

And the really bad news is that next year, Waitangi Day is on a Sunday. Still no holiday.

A spokesman for Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy said the Government had no plans to "Mondayise" the public holidays because the dates were of national, historical significance.

Labour's spokesman for labour relations, Trevor Mallard, said his party had no intention of proposing that people be compensated for having fewer statutory holidays.

Normally, Kiwis who work a Monday-to-Friday week enjoy 11 public holidays.

These include provincial anniversary days, which are taken on the nearest Monday to the event they commemorate.

Auckland's is taken on the nearest Monday to January 29, to mark the arrival of William Hobson, later the first Governor of NZ, in the Bay of Islands in 1840.

The Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and January 2 public holidays, if they fall on a weekend, are marked on the next working day, which gives us longer breaks.

Queen's Birthday, the first Monday in June, breaks up the long spell between Easter and Labour Day, which is always the fourth Monday in October.

Easter itself is a moveable feast.

It is generally the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox, reckoned to be on March 21 - the start of the northern spring.

Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25. This year, it is on April 4.

But the good news is that with public holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday, most workers get four days off in a row.

For many, that break can't come soon enough.