Ten Key Facts From The Holidays Act Survey

27 OCTOBER 1999

MEDIA RELEASE
27 October 1999

Ten Key Facts From The Simpson Grierson Holidays Act Survey

 Most employers want the Act repealed or amended (51%). Only 27% want it left as is.

 51% of employers have problems calculating pay for annual leave and 51% have problems calculating pay for statutory holidays.

 70% of employers seek outside advice to help them apply and interpret the Act.

 Some employers apply the Act incorrectly:
1. 19% don’t provide days off in lieu to full time waged employees working on a statutory holiday;
2. 8% of employers providing days off in lieu for statutory holidays allow staff to cash up some of those unused days;
3. 12% of employers make staff forfeit days in lieu if not taken within a certain time;
4. 60% of employers say they don’t Monday-ise statutory holidays; and
5. a small percentage of employers provide less than the statutory minimum of three weeks annual leave.
All of these are incorrect applications of the Act.

 Large employers (250+staff) or those with workforces on shiftwork, working seven days a week or 24 hours a day, have the most difficulty applying the Holidays Act.

 Most employers (92%) allow employees to accrue annual leave if it’s not taken in a year, many without restricting how much accrues or for how long. While 67% of employers say they want a legal provision to compel staff to take leave, 76% never use the seven days notice provision already available under the Act.

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Ten Key Facts…2

 Most employers (51%) believe there should not be statutory paid parental leave. Thirteen percent of employers already provide paid parental leave.

 Half of employers who required at least some staff to work on the turnover to the millennium, had already made arrangements by July. For those who required some staff to work, most were paying better than ordinary rates – with the most common options being double time and time and a half.

 Many employers are providing greater benefits than required by the Act. Thirty percent of employers of full time waged employees already give those staff more than the three weeks annual leave required by the Act; 31% of full time waged employees have clauses or policies offering to pay double time or better for working on a statutory holiday; 76% of employers provide extra leave to staff who’ve worked for them for a certain length of time.

 The Holidays Act began life as the Public Holidays Act in 1910, and many of the underlying principles of this original Act are still present in today’s legislation. The Holidays Act 1981 consolidated the Public Holidays Act 1955 (itself a consolidation of a number of Acts), the Factories Act 1946 and the Annual Holidays Act 1944 and amendments. The resulting legislation is piecemeal and confusing.

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MEDIA! PLEASE REFER ALL ENQUIRIES FOR INTERVIEWS AND FURTHER INFORMATION DURING THE PERIOD 27 OCTOBER TO 7 NOVEMBER TO:

PRaxis Public Relations Limited
Bill Moore
Phone (09) 373-5068
Mobile (025) 769-654
Home (09) 817-9257
Email: bill@praxispr.co.nz

AFTER 7 NOVEMBER PLEASE REFER ALL ENQUIRIES TO:
Andrea Parker
Public Relations Manager
Simpson Grierson
Phone (09) 358-2222

Spokespeople for this release are:
Phillipa Muir or Don Mackinnon
Partner Partner
Simpson Grierson Simpson Grierson

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