northland chamber

Northland Employers Christmas Holiday Guide….

What do I pay an employee for working on a public holiday? Can I require employees to work on a public holiday? Can I operate a Christmas Closedown? How are annual holidays paid?

Christmas is only 3 weeks away. Hopefully all Northland Businesses are flat out looking after customers and producing products and services for their customers.

For employees this time of the year is one to look forward to with looming holidays on the not so distant horizon. For employers this time of the year is one that can be fraught with difficulties and complex legislation if not carefully planned for.

The Northland Chamber of Commerce has a guide to public Holidays and Christmas / New Year 2006 on our web site as a service to Northland Employers. This guide has a list of the 17 most frequently asked Questions regarding Christmas / New Year Holiday period. This guide is designed to take the complication out of sometimes confusing legislation. Down load the guide from the front page of our website www.northchamber.co.nz There is also an easy to follow flow chart to simplify the process even further

For the record here the answers to the above questions..

What do I pay an employee for working on a public holiday?
If an employee works on a public holiday that employee is entitled to be paid, for the hours the employee works on that day, at the greater of (1) the employee’s “relevant daily pay” if it includes a penal rate that is more than time and a half or (2) the employee’s “relevant daily pay” less any penal rate that is less than time and a half, plus half that daily pay again (with the penal rate removed) i.e. time and a half excluding any contractual penal rate.

Note an employee is only entitled under the Holidays Act 2003 to payment for the actual hours worked on the day not the hours an employee would normally work on that day. As an example if an employee normally works 8 but only works 3 hours on a public holiday that employee is only entitled to be paid for working 3 hours.

Can I require employees to work on a public holiday?
You can only require employees to work on a public holiday if the public holiday would “otherwise be a working day” for the employee and the employment agreement requires the employee to work on the public holiday.

Can I still operate a Christmas close down?
Yes, as long as you have customarily had a Christmas close down.

How are annual holidays paid?
Annual holidays are to be calculated and paid at the greater of the employee’s “average weekly earnings” or “ordinary weekly pay” at the time the holiday is taken. The “average” weekly earnings is the employee’s “gross earnings” divided by 52. The “ordinary weekly pay” is the pay an employee receives under his or her employment agreement in an ordinary week and includes commission, bonuses, productivity, incentive pay, overtime, if they form part of the employee’s regular pay and the cash value of any board and lodgings provided by the employer. However, it excludes
any of the above listed payments (except the cash value of board and lodgings), if they are not part of an employee’s regular pay as well as one off exceptional payments and any discretionary payments that the employer is not bound by the terms of employment to pay to the employee. If it is not possible to calculate “ordinary weekly pay” on
this basis, the Holidays Act 2003 provides a formula.

But wait there’s more…
The Northland Chamber of Commerce also has a range of other useful how to’s available from the www.chamber.co.nz website – these include Employment information such as Pre employment checklist, recruiting, interviewing, discrimination, contracts, legislation, health & safety, retention and performance reviews, Annual Holidays. There is also the result of the 2006 / 2007 Salary Survey. This is handy for checking on the going rate of salaries for workers in over 180 occupations.

Some of these guides will require a log in and password, if your business is a Northland Chamber member they will have this otherwise please call us for membership details.

The Holidays Information above is kindly supplied by Hesketh Henry Lawyers and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. It is intended as a guide only and specific information for your business should be sought by an employment specialist.The Northland Chamber of Commerce is the networking, education, advocacy and marketing group for Northland business, and is part of a nationwide network of 30 and a world-wide movement of 27,000 chambers. Subscription to the free fortnightly chamber e-news can be arranged on info@northchamber.co.nz. Enquiries to 09-4384771 or www.northchamber.co.nz , www.kaiparachamber.co.nz and www.farnorthchamber.co.nz

You can have a say on this by going to the Northland Chamber of Commerce Feedback website on www.northchamber.blogspot.com