The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson has announced that a working group has been formed to review the Holidays Act 2003. It is seeking submissions from the public, commencing from 21st July 2009.
The working group is comprised of 2 employer representatives and 2 employee representatives and an employment lawyer has been appointed as the chair.
The group has written a number of questions which it would like addressed. These can be accessed from the Department of Labour's Website
http://dol.govt.nz/consultation/holidays-act-review.
In summary, they are:
- Simplifying the calculation of the relevant daily pay;
- 9 day working fortnight;
- Trading the 4th week of employees' holidays for cash, at their request;
- Provision of the flexibility to transfer the observance of public holidays to alternative days;
- Provision for recording days in lieu;
- Views on the treatment of the current 11 public holidays;
- Treatment of casual employees regarding annual holidays;
- Making Easter Sunday a public holiday.
The intention is to make the Act simpler to understand, less costly for businesses to apply and to be more flexible, ensuring that it caters for the diverse range of businesses such as 24 x 7 operations and those where the remuneration has a significant commission element.
Submissions close at 5pm on Friday 21st August 2009. They should be emailed to ERconsultation@dol.govt.nz or mailed to
Holidays Act 2003 Review (DX SR57080)
C/o Employment Relations Policy
Department of Labour
PO Box 3705
WELLINGTON 6140
The working group has been asked to report back to the Minister of Labour by 15th December this year.