Leave
When you’re working permanently at a job, you’re entitled to certain leave, such as annual leave, bereavement leave and sick leave.
This section briefly explains the type of leave you can get.
Leave When can I take leave at work? Do I get leave if I’m a casual employee? Do I get public holidays off? When can I use my sick leave? What happens if I don’t use all my sick leave for the year? How much bereavement leave do I get? How much parental leave can I get?
When you’re working permanently at a job, you’re entitled to certain leave, such as annual leave, bereavement leave and sick leave.
This section briefly explains the type of leave you can get.
After 12 months of work, you’re entitled to 4 weeks of annual leave. You might need to agree when and how you take this with your employer, however, your employer can’t unreasonably not allow you to take it. Your employer can also require you to take annual leave if there is a close-down period (e.g. during Christmas), but they must give you at least 14 days’ notice.
When you’re on annual leave, you get paid your wages as if you were normally working. If you leave your job without using all of your annual leave, you are entitled to have your annual leave paid out in your final pay.
If you are a casual employee, or if your hours are so irregular it is difficult to provide you with 4 weeks of annual leave a year, you won’t get annual leave but you should be paid 8% on top your hourly wage instead. This can also happen if you are a fixed term employee. In all of these situations, you and your employer should agree to this arrangement.
Check your employment agreement to find out whether you may be required to work on a public holiday – this is dependent on your agreement.
If you work on a public holiday, you’re also entitled to be paid 1.5 times your normal wage on the day.
Most employees (except for casual employees and employees who work irregular hours or are working on a day that is not their normal day of work) are also entitled to a paid day off if they work on a public holiday. This is known as an alternative holiday or a ‘day in lieu’. These public holidays are separate from and additional to annual holidays.
If you are a full-time, part-time or casual employee, you are entitled to 10 days of sick leave each year if:
You can take sick leave if you, your partner, or a dependent of yours is sick or injured.
An employer can require an employee to provide proof of sickness or injury (like a medical certificate) if the employee is on sick leave for three consecutive days or more. Employers can still require proof if the sickness is for less than three consecutive days, but they must tell the employee and pay all reasonable costs.
If you don’t use all of your sick leave during a particular year, you can carry over the unused sick leave to the following year. You can store up to 20 days of unused sick leave (unless your employment agreement allows for more) in a year. However, if you leave your job, you are not entitled to have any unused sick leave paid out in your final pay.
You can use bereavement leave if:
Legally, if you met these criteria, you’ll be entitled to 3 days paid bereavement leave each year, after the death of a close family member. Bereavement leave can be taken at any time and for any purpose relating to the bereavement. It does not have to be taken straight away or on consecutive days.
A close family member includes a:
Your employer may also give 1 day’s paid bereavement leave for the death of another person outside of close family, based on:
Your employer can also agree to more bereavement leave.
You can take 26 weeks of unpaid primary carer leave if you are:
To be eligible for primary carer leave, you have to have worked at least an average of 10 hours each week for the same employer for the 6 months immediately before the expected date of your child’s birth or the date the child is born (whichever comes first), or the date you become the primary carer of a child under 6 (e.g. adoption).
However, you can start your primary carer leave up to 6 weeks (or more, if your employer agrees) before then, if you want to take time off before your child arrives. If you’re pregnant, you may have to start your primary carer leave earlier than 6 weeks before the due date if your baby is born prematurely, your midwife or doctor recommends it, or you physically cannot do your job well or safely due to your pregnancy, and your employer does not have another job for you to do. Even if you begin your primary carer leave more than 6 weeks before the baby arrives, you are still entitled to 20 weeks of primary carer leave after the baby has arrived, so you could end up having more than 26 weeks of parental leave.
Primary carer leave must be taken in one continuous period. If you return to work, you will no longer be eligible for primary carer leave. You must give your employer 21 days’ notice of what you decide to do (whether it be extended leave, returning to work or not returning to work at all) after your primary carer leave ends. You cannot take primary carer leave if you have already taken a period of parental or similar leave relating to the same child.
Partner’s leave (which is unpaid) is also available for the spouse or partner of someone who is pregnant or taking primary care of a child under the age of 6. They must be married or in a civil union or de facto relationship with the pregnant person/primary carer. The amount of partner’s leave an employee can take depends on how long they have been working for their employer. If they’ve worked for the same employer continuously for at least an average of 10 hours a week for:
Also, the IRD offers parental leave payments to some people who are not working so they can take care of a new child. You can find out more here.