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Calculating Paid Public Holidays


Published 01 Dec 2011

Relevant Daily Pay

"Relevant daily pay" is used to calculate the employee’s pay entitlements for public holidays, alternative holidays, sick leave and bereavement leave.

The law requires the employer to pay what the employee would have received had the employee worked on the day concerned, including commission and productivity based pay and payments for overtime if they would have been received on the day. (Please note that all employer contributions to a Superannuation scheme are excluded.)

If it is not possible or practicable to determine relevant daily pay, or if the employee’s daily pay varies within the pay period, the employer may use the "average daily pay".

Average Daily Pay

Average Daily Pay is defined as gross earnings for previous 52 weeks divided by the number of days for which the employee was paid during that period.


For an in-depth look at this and Holidays in general see the "Annual Holidays and Leave" ebook which has been fully revised and incorporates the latest changes to Employment Law including "Relevant Daily Pay".

It is available for purchasing (for $112 plus GST) and downloading from www.employers.co.nz/products or alternatively by emailing info@employers.co.nz. It is free for Employer Support Package subscribers who can download it from www.employerstoolbox.co.nz