New Zealand Legislation: Acts

16 Entitlement to annual holidays

• (1) After the end of each completed 12 months of continuous employment, an employee is entitled to not less than 4 weeks’ paid annual holidays.

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the 12 months of continuous employment—

  • (a) includes any period during which the employee was—

    • (i) on paid holidays or leave under this Act; or

    • (ii) on parental leave under the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987; or

    • (iii) on volunteers leave within the meaning of the Volunteers Employment Protection Act 1973; or

    • (iv) receiving weekly compensation under the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001 or former Act as well as, or instead of, payment from the employer; or

    • (v) on unpaid sick leave or unpaid bereavement leave; or

    • (vi) on unpaid leave for any other reason for a period of no more than 1 week; but

  • (b) unless otherwise agreed, does not include any other unpaid leave, being leave other than that referred to in paragraph (a)(v) and (vi).

  (3) If, for the purposes of subsection (2)(b), an employer and employee agree that any period of unpaid leave of more than 1 week is to be included in the employee’s 12 months of continuous employment, the divisor of 52 to be used for the purposes of calculating the employee’s average weekly earnings must be reduced by the number of whole or part weeks greater than 1 week that the employee was on the unpaid leave.

  (4) An employee’s entitlement to annual holidays remains in force until the employee has taken all of the entitlement as paid holidays.

  Compare: 1981 No 15 s 11

  Section 16(1): amended, on 1 April 2007, by section 42.

  Section 16(2)(a)(iii): substituted, on 1 April 2004, by section 15 of the Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 12).