Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Specialist and Support Staff Collective Agreement

Employees who were appointed or last appointed to Te Kura (previously known as The Correspondence School) prior to 22 December 1993 are entitled to retiring leave provided they have completed either 30 or more years' service or have 10 years or more service and are aged 50 years or more. Any part-time service will be calculated on a pro rata basis.

Entitlement (in working days) with Service of Years and Months Specified

An employee who has established eligibility to retire on medical grounds shall be granted a minimum of 65 working days retiring leave regardless of length of service, with the exception that an employee with more than 25 years service may be granted additional leave in accordance with the above.

For employees whose services are dispensed with through no fault of their own before reaching retiring age, the Chief Executive Officer will consider granting retiring leave in accordance with this table.

While the leave may be taken in a lump sum or by fortnightly payments, employees are encouraged to receive payment for the leave in a lump sum.

An employee who has more than 20 years continuous service, or is eligible to retire on the grounds of age or service, shall be entitled to anticipate retiring leave.

Medical Retirements

Retirement on medical grounds must be acceptable to the Government Superannuation Board if the employee is a member of GSF. If the employee is not a member of GSF the Chief Executive Officer may approve the medical retirement on production of satisfactory medical evidence.

Satisfactory medical evidence is considered to be the results of two independent registered medical practitioners.

Grant in Lieu of Retiring Leave

On the death of an employee the Chief Executive Officer may approve a cash grant, in lieu of retiring leave, to:

1. the surviving partner; or
2. dependent children; or
3. the estate of a deceased employee.

Employees who were appointed or last appointed to Te Kura (previously known as The Correspondence School) prior to 22 December 1993 may be granted to employees who are not eligible for retiring leave:

Resigning leave is payable only to those employees who have given one month notice of resignation, and where the work record is satisfactory.

Where an employee has taken long service leave prior to resignation, the resigning leave due is to be reduced by 20 days but for each complete period of six months worked after the taking of long service leave, an additional credit of one day is to be granted up to a maximum of twenty days.

Where an employee resigns on the grounds of ill health the full resigning leave entitlement will be granted and no reduction will be made for any long service leave taken.

Resigning leave entitlements for reduced hour or part-time employees will reflect the pattern of service of the employee.

Employees who were appointed or last appointed to Te Kura (previously known as The Correspondence School) prior to 22 December 1993 will be granted an ex gratia payment of 30 working days, paid at the rate applying for the 30 days prior to ceasing work, when they return from parental leave and once they have completed six months continuous service.

This payment recognises the extra costs of childcare and is designed to encourage and assist employees to return to work. Application for the payment should be made to the manager. Employees on parental leave for less than six weeks (30 working days) are entitled to a proportion of the payment.

Renewal of the collective agreement

The parties agree that substantive bargaining for succeeding agreements will proceed in a timely manner, which will afford the opportunity for negotiations to be concluded before the expiry of this document.