Guide
Annual holiday entitlement in New Zealand: 4 weeks a year
Updated
The entitlement itself is simple. Turning four weeks into days or hours for someone whose pattern is not five fixed days is where employers come unstuck.
Four weeks, after twelve months
All employees become entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual holidays after 12 months of continuous employment (Employment NZ: taking annual holidays). Employment New Zealand adds that the entitlement does not expire: the employee remains entitled until they take the holidays, cash them up, or their employment ends and they are paid out.
Working the entitlement out for real work patterns
Employment New Zealand's guidance for employers is that what constitutes a working week, and how you calculate the entitlement, depends on the working arrangement (Employment NZ: managing annual holidays).
- Same hours on the same days each week: 4 working weeks. Someone working 3 days a week gets 12 days, someone working 5 days a week gets 20 days.
- Same total hours or days each week but the pattern varies: agree with the employee whether to work the entitlement out in days or in hours.
- The same number of days each week but hours vary: days is usually the sensible unit.
- The same number of hours each week but days vary: hours is usually the sensible unit.
- A consistent pattern that is not a 7 day cycle, such as 4 on and 4 off: define the week by the longest week in the pattern, by an average week, or by the week at the time the holiday is taken.
The option agreed should be used consistently for that employee unless their situation changes. If the work pattern does change, the entitlement must be reviewed and recalculated on the new pattern.
Taking the leave
- Employers must allow employees to take annual holidays within 12 months of becoming entitled to them.
- Employees who want to take at least 2 of their 4 weeks at once must be allowed to.
- Annual holidays can be taken at any time agreed between employer and employee.
- Employers may allow annual holidays to be taken in advance of entitlement, but do not have to.
Holidays in advance and unpaid leave
For annual holidays taken in advance, the employee is paid the greater of ordinary weekly pay at the start of the holiday or average weekly earnings, with average weekly earnings calculated over the whole time they have worked there where that is less than 12 months. Employment New Zealand's example: Jiao has worked 24 weeks, so her average weekly earnings are her gross earnings for the whole period divided by 24.
More than a week of unpaid leave in a year either pushes back the anniversary date by the excess over one week, or, by agreement, leaves the anniversary alone and adjusts the average weekly earnings divisor. Employment New Zealand's example is 2 weeks of unpaid leave calculated on a 51 week year instead of 52. Time off on ACC, parental leave, or protected voluntary military service does not affect the anniversary date.
A public holiday falling on an otherwise working day during annual holidays is taken as a public holiday, not out of the annual leave balance.