Holidays Act remediation – first payment

We have made a first remediation payment towards Holidays Act arrears for most current school employees. 

Overview 

Addressing Holidays Act non-compliance for the schools payroll is complex and it’s taking time to complete. Making a first payment means some of the money owed can be paid sooner.  

The payment, made on 27 June 2023, was based on an initial estimate and covered some leave types for a portion of the remediation period.  

We have paid as much as we can to current school employees at this stage, while minimising the risk of paying more than is owed before further calculations are complete. 

Scope  

To reach the most people, the first payment focused on: 

  • sick leave, public holidays, bereavement leave and family violence leave for current school employees (except short-term relief teachers) 
  • public holidays on days that would otherwise be working days for short-term relief teachers.  

It covered the period from 4 September 2013 to 27 January 2022.

Approach 

While the Holidays Act remediation calculator is under development, we have adapted an existing estimation tool to complete calculations based on a reduced set of data conforming and remediation rules. This has allowed us to make payments to most current school employees. 
 
After we complete additional work on the data, we’ll use the Holidays Act remediation calculator to calculate individual amounts owing across all leave types for the full remediation period (from 1 March 2010). At this stage, we’ll also recalculate the leave types and time period covered by this payment. 

Payments   

Current school employees receiving a payment 

Around 75 percent of current school employees have received a payment in this round.  

Of those receiving a payment: 

  • 73 percent received less than $500 
  • 49 percent received less than $200 
  • 34 percent received less than $100 
  • 23 percent received less than $50. 

This was paid into employees' bank accounts along with regular pay on Tuesday 27 June 2023. 

You should be able to see the gross amount (before tax and deductions) for each job covered on your payslip. It will be identified in the details section of your payslip as Holiday Act Pay and/or included in the summary section.

When we complete further calculations, you’ll receive the difference between the total amount owed and any amount already paid.  

In the unlikely event that we paid you more than the total amount owed, we will not recover overpayments.

You can contact Inland Revenue(external link) or the Ministry of Social Development(external link) for advice about whether your payment affects any benefit, tax credits or other support payments you receive, or make.  

For more details, see: 

Current school employees not receiving a payment 

Around 25 per cent of current school employees did not receive a payment in this remediation round. 

If you didn’t receive a payment, there could be a several reasons. For example: 

  • you may not be due a Holidays Act payment, or 
  • you might be owed a payment for a different leave type, or for an error outside the period covered by this payment. 

You are more likely to be owed Holidays Act remediation if you have: 

  • worked roster or shift arrangements 
  • been a casual employee 
  • received allowances, or worked additional hours or overtime 
  • changed work patterns, for example, from full-time to part-time.  

We won’t be able to confirm whether or not you are owed Holidays Act remediation until we’ve completed further calculations to fully address historic Holidays Act errors.  

Former school employees 

This payment did not cover former school employees. Remediation to former employees will be paid at a later date.  

Engagement 

We have consulted the Labour Inspectorate and our Sector Working Group on this approach and we continue to engage with them on the details of our broader remediation programme. 

Our Sector Working Group includes representatives from: 

  • Amalgamated Workers Union of New Zealand 
  • E Tū 
  • NZEI Te Riu Roa
  • Public Service Association 
  • New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua 
  • Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand 
  • New Zealand School Trustees Association. 

More information 

Read our Questions and Answers about the first Holidays Act remediation payment 

Find out more about Holidays Act non-compliance

Find out more about our schools payroll remediation programme

Contact us 

If your query isn’t covered on our Questions and Answers page, the best way to get in touch is via our query form(external link).  

 You can also contact the team by: 

Keeping yourself safe from phishing scams 

Phishing is when someone uses an email, text or phone call to try to get access to sensitive information (like bank account numbers and passwords). 

For schools payroll remediation payments, we will never ask you for your bank account login or password. The information you receive from us will direct you to the Ministry of Education’s website. 

Phishing scammers will claim to be from a legitimate organisation, and often have email addresses or websites that look very real. They'll often ask you to claim a prize, check your details, or tell you that your account is expiring or needs to be checked. 

Email phishing scams – Netsafe(external link)

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