Holiday law complicated and confusing, says survey

Most employers appear to find aspects of the Holidays Act unworkable and are not complying with all of it, a survey found.

The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) said the survey showed the law was complicated and confusing.

It also showed some practices were entrenched to the extent there was little choice but to legalise them, association employment services manager David Lowe said today.

The Government set up an advisory group, chaired by employment lawyer Peter Kiely, in June to review the Holidays Act.

The last day for the public to send in submissions was August 21.

Lowe said confusion was particularly widespread over holiday entitlements for casual employees. Only 18 per cent of employers felt they understood when a casual employee was entitled to a paid day off when they worked on a public holiday.

"The survey showed only 19 per cent of workplaces offer their casual employees sick leave and bereavement leave despite the law providing a complex formula that gives some casual employees these entitlements," said Lowe.

The association survey attracted 728 responses from employers, with the "exceptionally high" completion rate of 65 per cent confirming keen interest.

Lowe said the relevant daily pay formula for calculating sick pay was the most problematic, with employers clear they wanted it replaced.

"Under the present formula people can end up getting paid more for being sick than for coming to work," he said.

"This has meant businesses can have their highest absenteeism rate during their busiest times."

The present law also stated that an employee who was sick on a public holiday was not to be treated as being sick. It made no sense.

The survey found 83 per cent of employers disagreed with the current law that provided employees on parental leave and long term accident compensation with holidays and sick leave while they were absent from work.

"The present law lets people take a holiday to take a break from the job while they're not even doing it," said Lowe.

Most employers supported shifting to a single payment formula for all types of leave.

- NZPA