KEY POINTS:
So you're an employee working part-time shifts over a seven-day roster or an employer with a 24/7 operation and a workforce that's 30 per cent part-time. Just how, precisely, are you meant to figure out who's entitled to what sick pay and how much you're meant to be paid for working Easter Monday?
Never fear, this calculator from the Department of Labour is here to help.
The Online Tool for Holidays Entitlement provides guidance on public holidays, sick pay, bereavement pay and relevant daily pay.
Here's how it works: first you decide which of the two calculators you want to use. Then choose whether you are an employer or employee. Finally, you are asked to click through a series of options and get your answer at the end.
I chose to investigate public holidays as an employee who works not just on public holidays, but on a rotating shift where the roster pattern has changed but there is a clear pattern emerging of when I work.
My answer told me it "is a paid day off for a public holiday, alternative holiday, sick or bereavement leave day, or there is an entitlement to an alternative holiday for working on a public holiday".
But it also told me that if my employer had answered some of the questions differently, we would have got different answers and so we should try to reach an agreement. It also gave me the option of calculating what I should have been paid.
Through this site, you can also find answers to sick leave, bereavement leave, annual holidays and relevant daily pay - it's a useful tool.
www.ers.dol.govt.nz/holidays-online-tool/default.aspx
