NZ Politics

I think the reason we cap sick leave at the moment is because it is employer funded. It would be unreasonable to burden a business with paying for the long-term illness of someone just because they happened to be an employee when they got sick.

When ACC was first set up, the working group that put it together had actually recommended that non-inury sickness be covered as well, but it was not implemented because of the political situation of the time.

If we move the burden of supporting workers who become ill from individual employers, then I think it makes the argument for long-term or indefinite sick leave a lot more palatable.

That's a possibility, but I think with some degree of oversight, and checking up on businesses with significantly above average leave rates, it could be avoided. A lower amount of leave taken is generally indicative of a healthier workplace, so perhaps there might be an incentive system where companies get reductions in their levies for low rates of sick leave... although that just turns the problem you described on it's head...

That's fraud though so it would probably be the same employers who commit other kinds of fraud.

Yeah, also not a developer, but it seems the rules for sick days are not complex, it just requires a separate set of logic. i.e. it takes longer but it's not hard.

In my experience as a user of payroll software; I suspect its a combination of things.

Developers could customise the logic for New Zealand's legislation better, but corporations think magically about software and try to buy "out of the box" solutions, even if they don't quite fit right.

Then they rely on HR staff to try to configure their way around logic limitations so it ends up just as kludgy but in a way more reliant on people knowing why something was done some given way than just in the tool.

I've run into stuff you would think is really really simple - like marking the NZ public holidays as not a work day; but if those holidays change - like the addition of Matariki, or you move so you have a new provincial holiday its usually months, years or never that it gets updated.

How does working extra affect sick leave entitlement? My understanding is you just get paid what you otherwise would have been paid on that day, but don't have to work it. I don't understand how sick leave entitlement changes from extra shifts?

(Annual leave is a whole nother ballpark, and is definitely affected by extra shifts).

Yeah - but did sick leave ever get the same clarification? The language in the forms I use at work is half day, full day off sick.

But in effect you're asking for your shift off work - so if a shift is 12 hours then yeah I would think it would be sensible for 12 hours, I just don't know if sick leave actually gets paid the same way.

Because its definitely not paid out as "days" - in the 24 hour sense. Like if you're a part timer doing a 4 hour day, I can't imagine the current law lets you have 20 shifts off right? Its more like "day" in that sense means, times not working due to being sick.

Well put. In a way you could argue that the current government is making changes that will make NZ more like the USA. That may or may not be true, but the implication is that we are currently less like the USA too.

So the things you like about NZ will still be there in some amount, just perhaps just a bit less than it would have been a few years ago. And as you say, governments come & go so in 3, 6, 9 years things can just as readily change the other way again anyway.

And yes its 11 national public holidays, plus 1 provincial public holiday, plus 20 days annual leave for 32 in total, then 10 days sick leave on top for 42 in total. It can get slightly complicated in terms of accruals & entitlements. NZ has a bunch of different leave that may or may not be foreign to a US citizen!:

12 Public holidays - must be taken on the day they happen, or if you can't you get a day in lieu to take at your leisure. Usually you will want to ensure you use the lieu day before you use any of your annual leave entitlement as the former doesn't get paid out to you when you cease employment.

Annual Leave - there's two counts for this, from the date you start working for an employer you begin accruing an annual leave balance, and then 12 months later you become entitled to four weeks of annual leave, and your accrual balance starts again from 0. The difference matters as I think technically the employer only has to allow you to take entitled leave, not accrued; and conversely if they have a customary closedown period then there's a bunch of different rules about what happens. Typically nowadays most employers (big corporates anyway) will see your annual leave accrual as a liability and will be encouraging you to use it so its pretty rare to have much of an argument about having leave. Both sides have to be reasonable in giving notice and rearranging things to covering when you're not there.

Sick Leave - this is the 10 days that's mentioned in this article, like Public holidays sick leave doesn't get paid out when you leave, and unlike annual leave sick leave doesn't continue to accrue. So it is each 12 month period of employment that you get a new up to 10 days per year sick leave. Some employers do accrue sick leave as well though - I think my balance caps out at something like 40 days, so good news if I ever get the big C or something I suppose!

Bereavement Leave - you get a minimum of 3 days per bereavement for funerals if its for people in your immediate family, or miscarriages and then there's a bit of flexibility where you can have another 1 day per bereavement if they're not immediate family but there's some specific reasons why you gotta be there responsibility wise.

Parental Leave - im not as up with the play on this one, but its available for both parents, just to differing amounts I think.

Family Violence Leave - employees affected by family violence have the right to up to 10 days of paid leave per year, and can ask for a short term rearrangement of their work schedule.

Other Leave - there's all sorts of other rules for Jury service, disasters, leave to go vote in an election and some employers have other stuff too like I worked somewhere where you got an extra 2 weeks a year if you represented NZ in a sport (even an obscure one) and were going to an international tournament.

It’s probably best not to let news articles sway your judgement. With steps backwards, sometimes we forget all the steps forward. This applies to the US, too.

Well said.