BAPS Leave - NZ

About

BAPS Leave = Bereavement, Alternative, Public Holiday & Sick Leave - it is a complicated area of employment law in New Zealand is governed by the The Holidays Act 2003. We do not provide any specific advice in these matters and strongly suggest that you seek independent expert advice when considering leave compliance matters for your business.

Sick Leave

In New Zealand all employees are entitled to sick leave if:

• they have six months’ current continuous employment with the same employer, or

• they have worked for the employer for six months for:
  • an average of 10 hours per week, and
  • at least one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.

For each 12-month period after meeting the above, each employee gets at least five days’ sick leave. If in any year the employee doesn’t meet the criteria, then they don’t get any new sick leave entitlement, but can use their sick leave balance which may have carried over. An employee may re-qualify for sick leave as soon as they meet the criteria.

Sick leave entitlements are not pro-rated in any way. For example, even if a part-time employee only works three days a week, they still get five days’ sick leave a year and can accumulate up to 20 sick days a year.