Te Whatu Ora-Tairāwhiti 'reaching out to past employees who may not have been paid correctly for leave'

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Te Whatu Ora-Tairāwhiti is looking for former health board employees who may have been underpaid.

Health boards, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE), police and many other employers, including in the private sector, were found to have misinterpreted the Holidays Act.

Te Whatu Ora-Tairāwhiti is “reaching out to past employees who may not have been paid correctly for leave”.

“If you worked for a former district health board after May 1, 2010, please register your details online.

“We will keep you posted about any payments that may be owed to you.

“Please share this post with people you know who have worked for us in the past 13 years.”

• Impacted people can sign up online and find more information at tewhatuora.govt.nz/holidaysact

Since May 2010, health had been accumulating liabilities due to payroll systems not calculating leave in accordance with the Act’s requirements, according to the Auditor-General’s 2021 annual review of the Ministry of Health.

It was estimated in 2021 that health boards needed to reimburse about $1.15 billion to more than 200,000 staff who were wrongly paid under the Holidays Act.

The Holiday Act was a particular problem for health boards because of their 24-hour operations involving shift work and overtime, and associated penalty payments.

Te Whatu Ora says it is “committed to addressing these issues, to ensure current and former Te Whatu Ora staff receive their correct leave entitlements”.