Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Early Childhood Teachers' Collective Agreement
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Part Six: Leave
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Early Childhood Teachers’ Collective Agreement
Effective: 1 December 2022 to 2 July 2025
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6.1 Leave
6.1.1 Except as provided in clause 2.4 teachers shall not be required to attend school during any time when Te Kura is officially closed for instruction. However the employer may require teachers to attend school or elsewhere, when Te Kura is closed for instruction (except on weekends or public holidays unless by agreement) for up to ten days per school year (or the equivalent) for all or any of the following purposes – school administration, school preparation and co-ordination, pre-term planning curriculum and/or technical refreshment and/or professional development. The employer will endeavour to arrange matters at the school in such a way that any requirement under this section is not unreasonable and that teachers’ individual needs are taken into account. Teachers’ own initiatives in undertaking work for the above purposes shall be counted when applying this clause.
6.1.2 Where teachers are required to attend school or elsewhere when Te Kura is closed pursuant to 6.1.1 they shall be reimbursed for any actual and reasonable costs incurred in accordance with Part 5 of this agreement.
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6.2 Public Holidays
6.2.1 Any teachers required by their employer to work on a Public Holiday (as listed in section 44 Holidays Act 2003(external link)) shall be paid time and a half rates as per section 50 of the Act(external link).
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6.3 Holiday Pay
6.3.1 Holiday pay is based on the school year and is not payable beyond 27 January. For holiday pay purposes, teaching service in a school year comprises all paid service including weekends and statutory holidays, but not school vacations. Calculation of holiday pay during the year is made to the nearest day and when a half-day is involved the calculation is made to the benefit of the teacher. Subject to clause 4.7, in calculating holiday pay the following rules apply:
- Holiday Pay = 30 percent of the number of days of teaching service in a school year defined above.
- When a teacher resigns, any half-day resulting from calculation of holiday pay is to the benefit of the teacher.
- When a school closes on a Friday and the vacation commences on the Monday following, the intervening weekend is school time and not vacation time.
- The number of days holiday pay is counted from the beginning of the vacation. Deductions of holiday pay are made from the end of the vacation.
- This provision shall also apply to long term relieving teachers appointed to relieving positions for a term of one year or less.
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6.4 Holiday Pay after Leave Without Pay
6.4.1 If a permanent teacher has had leave without pay for a period exceeding five consecutive days, the holiday pay to be deducted is based on the total number of days without pay.
6.4.2 This provision does not apply in the following circumstances:
- No deduction is to be made from the holiday pay of teachers for periods of sick leave without pay or accident leave without pay for periods not exceeding three months in any one school year. Where the total number of days sick/accident leave without pay is in excess of three months the deduction is based on the period subsequent to the three months. The initial three months period is not taken into account.
- No deduction is made to the holiday pay of permanent teachers for study leave without pay for periods not exceeding three months in any one year. For periods in excess of three months the deduction is based on the whole period of leave. The leave must be for study for qualifications recognised by the Ministry as of value to teaching.
- No deduction from holiday pay is made for leave without pay for voluntary military training or subsequent part-time training.
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6.5 Sick Leave
6.5.1 Entitlement
- Teachers, other than short-term relievers, shall be entitled to ten days’ sick leave per annum upon appointment and for each subsequent year of continuous employment. Teachers shall be entitled to anticipate up to five days of their next year's entitlement and may be entitled to anticipate a further five days of their next year’s entitlement, up to a maximum of ten days in total.
- Short-term relievers will be entitled to 10 days of sick leave for every 190 days or 950 hours of short-term relief teaching, or in accordance with the Holidays Act 2003, whichever is more advantageous to the short-term reliever.
- Teachers with previous teaching service in state or state integrated schools will retain their sick leave balance upon their appointment to a position covered by this Agreement.
- Sick leave not used in the year in which it is granted may be accumulated for use in subsequent years, to a maximum of 306 days.
6.5.2 Recognition of previous or additional employment for sick leave purposes
- Upon first appointment to a teaching position in the state or state-integrated schools, or following a break in employment, the following employment outside of teaching service in state or state-integrated schools will be recognised for sick leave purposes:
- Employment as a teacher in a New Zealand free kindergarten association, university, or polytechnic and/or employment as a teacher in Fiji, Cook lslands, Tonga, Western Samoa or Niue registered schools. For this purpose, permanent part-time employment and non-permanent employment that consists of employment for 20 hours or more per week will be recognised as full-time employment under this Agreement. Non-permanent part-time employment of less than 20 hours per week will be credited as follows:
- 80 hours are recognised as the equivalent of one month of employment under this Agreement, and
- 1000 hours are recognised as the equivalent of one year of employment under this Agreement.
- Employment in the New Zealand Public Service and/or Armed Forces may be credited on such terms as the Secretary for Education may agree.
- Employment as a teacher in a New Zealand free kindergarten association, university, or polytechnic and/or employment as a teacher in Fiji, Cook lslands, Tonga, Western Samoa or Niue registered schools. For this purpose, permanent part-time employment and non-permanent employment that consists of employment for 20 hours or more per week will be recognised as full-time employment under this Agreement. Non-permanent part-time employment of less than 20 hours per week will be credited as follows:
- Any sick leave entitlement credited under this clause will only be credited once and will be reduced by the amount of sick leave taken during the applicable periods of employment.
6.5.3 Taking Sick Leave
- A teacher, other than a short-term reliever, who has sick leave entitlement can take sick leave on pay when they are absent because they are sick or injured or the teacher’s spouse, partner, or someone dependent on the teacher for care is sick or injured.
- Teachers will have sick leave deducted from their entitlement as follows:
- Sick leave shall only be deducted on days of absence that would otherwise be working days.
- For full time teachers, sick leave will not be deducted for an absence that is less than two hours.
- Sick leave shall not be deducted for an absence that is less than 25% of the hours normally worked on that day (i.e. 2 hours per day for a full-time teacher).
6.5.4 Sick Leave for Short-term Relievers
- A short-term reliever who has accepted an offer for a period of short-term relief teaching and who cannot work on a day(s) during that period because they are sick, or because their spouse, partner, or someone dependent on the short-term reliever for care is sick, is entitled to paid sick leave for the day or hours they would have worked, provided they have sick leave entitlement available.
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6.6 Disregarded Sick Leave
6.6.1 Disregarded sick leave not exceeding an overall aggregate of two years shall be granted by the Secretary for Education where in the opinion of the Secretary one of the following conditions has been met:
- The sickness can be traced directly to the conditions or circumstances under which the teacher is working; or
- The teacher has contracted a notifiable infectious disease and is required to be excluded from school for a period determined by a Medical Officer of Health or is otherwise prevented from attending work by a relevant Public Health Order or similar type of legislation. The term “notifiable infectious disease” in this clause has the meaning given to this term in section 2 of the Health Act 1956; or
- An injury was suffered by the teacher in the discharge of duties through no fault of the teacher; and in circumstances where payment has not been made by the Accident Compensation Corporation.
6.6.2 Where sick leave has been deducted for any period granted as disregarded sick leave under clause 6.6.1 above, the sick leave will be reinstated.
6.6.3 Disregarded sick leave is additional to any period of absence on account of sickness or injury to which the teacher is entitled under clause 6.5 above.
6.6.4 Fixed term or relieving teachers shall only be granted disregarded sick leave where they have been in continuous employment before the date of application.
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6.7 Domestic Leave
6.7.1 The employer may grant a teacher leave on pay as a charge against their sick leave entitlement when the teacher is absent from work to attend to a person dependent on the teacher.
6.7.2 Teachers working part time or on a temporary basis shall be entitled also to request that time off be granted to attend to a dependant who is sick. Such time off will be offset against the teacher’s sick leave entitlement.
6.7.3 The production of a medical certificate or other evidence of illness may be required.
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6.8 Bereavement/Tangihanga Leave
6.8.1 A teacher shall be granted bereavement/tangihanga leave on full pay to discharge their obligations and/or to pay their respects to a deceased person with whom they have had a close association. Such obligations may exist because of blood or family ties or because of particular cultural requirements such as attendance at all or part of a Tangihanga (or its equivalent).
6.8.2 In granting time off the employer must administer these provisions in a culturally sensitive manner taking into account:
- the closeness of the association between the teacher and the deceased (Note: This association need not be a blood relationship).
- whether the teacher has to take significant responsibility for any or all of the arrangements to do with the ceremonies resulting from the death.
- the amount of time needed to discharge properly any responsibilities or obligations.
- reasonable travelling time should be allowed, but for cases involving overseas travel that may not be the full period of travel.
6.8.3 A teacher will also be entitled to bereavement/tangihanga leave if:
- the teacher's pregnancy ends by miscarriage or stillbirth, or
- the pregnancy of another person ends by miscarriage or stillbirth and:
- this person is the teacher's spouse or partner; or
- this person is the teacher's former spouse or partner, and the teacher would have been a biological parent of a child born because of the pregnancy; or
- the teacher had undertaken to be the primary carer of a child born because of the pregnancy; or
- the teacher is the spouse or partner of a person who had undertaken to be the primary carer of a child born because of the pregnancy.
6.8.4 A decision must be made as quickly as possible so that the teacher is given maximum time possible to make any arrangements necessary. In most cases the necessary approval will be given immediately, but maybe given retrospectively where necessary.
6.8.5 If paid bereavement/tangihanga leave is not appropriate then leave without pay should be granted.
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6.9 Parental Leave
Note: Employees are encouraged to contact the Employment Relations Service on 0800 20 90 20 for more information on parental leave.
6.9.1 The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987(external link) provisions apply.
6.9.2 An employee on parental leave must give at least one month's notice before they return to work, but if they had a miscarriage or stillbirth they may choose to return to work earlier by mutual agreement.
Note: This does not preclude the employee requesting leave, as appropriate, such as bereavement leave, domestic leave, or special leave.
6.9.3 In addition to the provisions of 4.5.1, the following also apply:
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- Employees intending to resign because of pregnancy or childbirth must be advised of their parental leave rights.
- Primary carer leave may start at any time during the pregnancy. The employee must give the employer one month's written notice with a medical certificate, but shorter notice will be accepted if a medical practitioner recommends it.
- Any primary carer leave taken will not count against the extended leave entitlement.
- An employee with less than 52 weeks' service is entitled to 26 weeks' extended leave from the date of birth and or adoption placement. Their employer may choose to grant up to 26 weeks.
- Employees on parental leave are still covered by the surplus staffing/school closure provisions of this Agreement.
6.9.4 Parental Grant
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- If an employee takes, or is eligible to take primary carer and/or extended leave, they will be paid a lump sum parental grant when they produce a birth certificate or adoption papers. The grant is six weeks' pay at the full salary rate that applied on the day before their leave began. If they worked less than full normal hours for a short time before taking leave, the employer may still give full payment.
- If an employee takes primary carer or extended leave for less than six weeks (30 working days), the full grant equivalent to six weeks' salary is still payable. The parental grant is not reduced because salary is received.
- If both the employee and their partner are employed in the Public Service or Education Service and are eligible for a parental grant, then they are entitled to only one payment between them, and they may choose who will receive it.
- There is no entitlement to a parental grant in the case of miscarriage.
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6.10 Special Leave with or without Pay
6.10.1 Upon application, a teacher may be granted special leave with or without pay on whatever conditions teachers and the employer may agree at the time the leave is granted.
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6.11 Unpaid Refreshment Leave
6.11.1 Full-time certificated teachers and part-time certificated teachers employed for at least 0.8 FTTE per week, attested at the experienced teacher level against the professional standards in this Agreement, shall be entitled (subject to 4.9.2) to take a single, one-off period of unpaid refreshment leave of up to 10 weeks after three years' service in the school.
6.11.2 Entitlement to unpaid refreshment leave in clause 6.11.1 is subject to:
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- The employer's ability to find a suitable reliever to fill the vacancy created by the teacher taking the leave. A suitable reliever is a teacher who will be able, to the satisfaction of the employer, to relieve in the school during the period of the teacher's leave. The employer shall use reasonable endeavours to find a suitable reliever. Reasonable endeavours in this context means accessing the usual pool of relievers, advertising locally if necessary, and does not require the employer to place more than one advertisement; and
- The teacher not being subject to current competency or disciplinary processes at the time that leave is sought; and
- The maximum number of early childhood teachers who can be on unpaid refreshment leave at any one time is one.
6.11.3 Time off on unpaid refreshment leave will count as service for the purposes of salary increments, long service and severance calculations. It will not count for the purposes of sick leave or holiday pay calculations or for entitlement to public holidays.
6.11.4 A teacher taking unpaid refreshment leave shall not accept employment as a teacher or principal in another state or state-integrated New Zealand school. However, a teacher may agree to undertake occasional day relief work.
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6.12 Employment Relations Education Leave
6.12.1 The employer shall grant paid leave to teachers to attend employment related education courses in accordance with the provisions of Appendix Three of this agreement.
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6.13 Jury Service and Witness Leave
6.13.1 Except where teachers are pursuing their own interests or where answering charges against themselves, the employer will grant leave with pay when a teacher is required by subpoena to attend court proceedings as a witness or to serve on a jury, provided that where fees are paid, these fees shall be repaid to the employer.