Review of the Holidays Act 2003 - request for written submissions
The deadline for submissions on the Review of Holidays Act 2003 closed on 21 August 2009. The Department has received submissions from employers, employees, employer representatives, unions, the state sector, community organisations, professional organisations and payroll software suppliers and providers. The submissions will assist the Ministerial Advisory Group in their review of the Holidays Act 2003.
A Ministerial Advisory Group, consisting of employer and employee representatives, has been appointed to review the Holidays Act 2003 (the Act). The Group will advise the Minister of Labour on options for amending the Act (without reducing current entitlements) to:
- make it easier to understand
- reduce direct and compliance costs, and
- make it more flexible in application.
The Group is interested in receiving your written submissions on the following matters. To help focus your submissions on the areas of the Act the Group will review, a list of questions is provided below. Other areas of concern with the Act have already been identified in previous reviews. The Group will take any relevant concerns previously raised into consideration.
The calculation of relevant daily pay (RDP)
- Discuss any specific complexities and costs associated with calculating RDP.
- Is there an alternative calculation that would be easier to make without returning to the ordinary pay calculation under the Holidays Act 1981?
Trading the fourth week of annual leave for cash at the employee’s request
- What are your views on an employee and employer agreeing to trade the employee’s fourth week of annual leave (or some other part of the employee’s minimum annual leave entitlement) for cash?
- Are there any specific issues, for example, criteria or costs and benefits that the Group should take into consideration?
- If you think an employer and an employee should be able to agree to trade the fourth week’s leave for cash, what protections do you see would be necessary to ensure entitlements are not reduced and employees’ choice to trade the fourth week is genuine?
Allowing all employers and employees to agree to transfer the observance of a public holiday listed in the Act to another day
- What are your views on employees being able to transfer public holidays to another day, for example, observing the final day of Ramadan instead of Good Friday?
- If you have done this previously have there been any issues with transferring?
- What protections do you see would be necessary to ensure entitlements are not reduced and employees’ choice to transfer the public holiday is genuine?
The accumulation of alternative holidays (days in lieu)
- What are your views on employees accumulating a number of days in lieu (alternative holidays)?
The treatment and entitlements of casual employees in relation to holidays and leave
- Discuss your understanding of what casual employees are entitled to under the Act.
- Discuss any complexities associated with calculating holiday and leave entitlements and payments for casual employees.
- Do you have any examples of casual employees being advantaged or disadvantaged by the application of the Act?
Treatment of public holidays
- What are your views on the significance of the 11 public holidays listed in the Act? (These are: Christmas Day; Boxing Day; New Year's Day; 2 January; Waitangi Day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; ANZAC Day; Queen's Birthday; Labour Day; and Provincial Anniversary Day.)
Shop Trading on Easter Sunday and its interface with the Holidays Act 2003.
- Do you consider that Easter Sunday should be recognised as a public holiday?
- If so should it be "Mondayised" in the same way as, for example, Christmas Day is under the Act and replace Easter Monday as a public holiday?
Please send submissions addressing the above questions to:
| Email: | ERconsultation@dol.govt.nz |
|---|---|
| Post: | Holidays Act 2003 Review (DX no. SR57080) Department of Labour PO Box 3705 Wellington |
The closing date for submissions is 5 pm Friday, 21 August 2009.
A copy of the Group’s terms of reference is available at http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/holidays+act+review+underway+1