Employment Leave Bill
This bill changes how annual, sick, and public holidays are earned and paid in New Zealand. It replaces the current Holidays Act 2003. Key changes include different rules for standard, additional, and casual work hours, and a new way to calculate public holiday pay. It also sets up a process for employers to fix past mistakes under the old law.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
This bill changes how businesses pay employees for leave, which could affect how businesses manage their payroll and costs.
a consistent leave payment method for all leave types under which every hour of leave taken is paid at an hourly rate
a “leave compensation payment” (LCP) for every additional and casual hour of work—instead of annual and sick leave accruing on these hours—set at 12.5 percent of an employee’s ordinary hourly wage
The bill would create an optional remediation process that employers may choose to follow to resolve outstanding liabilities under the Holidays Act 2003.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Education and Workforce Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 13 April 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.