Public Holiday Pay: Know Your Rights and Obligations
With Easter this weekend, followed closely by Anzac Day, we thought it timely to remind everyone of the rules for public holiday pay...
While most businesses will close for the day, with staff receiving full pay, this is not always an option. If you need to operate with staff over the break, know that an employee can only be made to work on a public holiday if it falls on a day they would usually work and their employment agreement states they must. Everyone else has the right to a day off.
If employees work on a public holiday, they must be paid time and a half for the hours worked and will likely be entitled to an alternative paid day off as well. The alternative day off does not apply if
- The employee would not usually have been working the public holiday.
- The employee was on call where they didn’t have to restrict their activities.
- The employee was employed only to work on the public holiday.
Another option, if both parties agree, is that the public holiday can be shifted to another day.
Visit Employment NZ here for further information.
The Rural Accountants Team would like to wish you a very happy Easter.
Our current office opening hours are 8am-4pm. We will be closed over the Easter and Anzac breaks.