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Supplementary Order Paper No 491

No 491

House of Representatives

Supplementary Order Paper

Tuesday, 12 May 2020

COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill

Proposed amendments

Hon Chris Hipkins, in Committee, to move the following amendments:

Schedule 17, clause 2

In Schedule 17, clause 2, new section 30JA (page 128, lines 12 to 14), replace “on the date on which the Epidemic Preparedness (COVID-19) Notice 2020 expires or is revoked” with “at the end of the COVID-19 response period”.

In Schedule 17, clause 2, new section 30JC (page 128, lines 20 to 22), replace the definition of COVID-19 emergency period with:

COVID-19 response period means the period starting on 25 March 2020 and ending 3 months after the date on which the Epidemic Preparedness (COVID-19) Notice 2020 expires or is revoked

In Schedule 17, clause 2, new section 30JC, definition of COVID-19 response work (page 128, line 24), replace “COVID-19 emergency period” with “COVID-19 response period”.

In Schedule 17, clause 2, new section 30JQ(d) (page 132, line 32), replace “COVID-19 emergency period” with “COVID-19 response period”.

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends Schedule 17, which amends the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987. Schedule 17 enables a worker on parental leave to “pause” their parental leave and payments to temporarily return to work in order to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19. When a worker finishes this temporary return to work, they will be able to resume their parental leave. They will have the same remaining entitlements to leave, payments, and protections as they had on the day they temporarily returned to work.

The Supplementary Order Paper amends the period during which the parental leave and payments pause may be accessed. In the Bill, the period is called a COVID-19 emergency period, and a worker must perform any part of their response work during that period. That period will finish on the revocation or expiry of the Epidemic Preparedness (COVID-19) Notice 2020. Barring an earlier revocation, that notice is due to expire on 25 June 2020. This Supplementary Order Paper increases the period from the time that notice is in force to 3 months beyond that time. The name of the period is accordingly amended in this Supplementary Order Paper to COVID-19 response period.

The effect of this Supplementary Order Paper is to recognise that a COVID-19 response worker may wish to pause their parental leave and payments for a response period beyond 25 June 2020.