Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Work is on track for the Government to release proposed Holidays Act changes in September.
It will include suggested tweaks to sick leave rules.
This could mean part-time workers will get less sick leave if its allocation becomes proportional to the hours someone works.
The work is a top priority for Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden, who told The Front Page that successive ministers have tried and failed to get a change across the line.
“It will be targeted consultation because it’s a very technical law. But I very much look forward to all of the feedback that comes back to let us know if we’re on the right track to make it simpler. The last thing I want is a new law change that’s even more complex,” van Velden said.
At the moment, everyone is entitled to 10 days of sick leave a year if they’ve worked with their employer for six months and have worked an average of 10 hours a week.
Van Velden said small businesses have been struggling with this.
“If you’ve got a worker, for example, who has two part-time jobs. They, under the law, could be entitled to 20 days’ sick leave,” she said.
“And so we’re opening up that question of, is it fair, is it proportionate that somebody who works part-time is still entitled to the same leave as someone who works five days a week for 40 hours? That’s what I’m really interested in getting some feedback on.”
The proposal will also include changing how annual leave is provided and moving from an entitlement to an accrual system.
Act leader David Seymour once said in jest that the Government-recognised public holidays were emblematic of a “fascist state”.
In 2020, he said national holidays like Anzac Day and Waitangi Day should be mandated – but others, like Easter and Labour Day, don’t need to be. He suggested that the best option is to introduce some flexibility, with people able to trade out particular days.
The party has also floated the idea of removing the January 2 public holiday to “absorb the cost of Matariki”.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment calculated the impact on businesses giving their staff an extra day off to be up to $448 million – or between 0.35% and 0.42% of 2019′s wage bill of $107 billion.
While it is an Act Party policy to scrap a public holiday, van Velden told The Front Page there are no plans to do so.
“I am a government minister and when we have three parties in coalition together not all three parties will end up with everything that they campaigned on or everything that they believe in.
“In this coalition Government, there are no plans to take back public holidays.
“I really actually hope that everybody is able to have a good time with their family on Matariki. If you’re one of these people who might be able to have a few dollars rattling around to go out and spend time with their family, please do it in a local cafe or go out to your local shops because I know that there are some small businesses who are really struggling.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about proposed changes to the Holidays Act.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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