... we thought it would be helpful to cover a question we are commonly asked - How do I work out if or what to pay an employee who doesn't work and if they do work, whether they should receive an Alternative Day off.
The simple rule is: Employees get a paid day off on public holidays if it’s an otherwise working day for them i.e they are paid what they would have been paid were it not a public holiday.
An otherwise working day is a day that an employee would have been working had the day not been a public holiday. Also, an employee gets an alternative holiday if they work on a public holiday that would otherwise be a working day for them.
How do I work out if it would be an Otherwise Working Day? In most cases, this will be obvious, especially if staff work Mon - Fri with fixed hours. But what about staff who work variable days and hours?
There are a number of things to consider in this case, but to make it easier for you Employment NZ have created a useful online tool which will help you work it out. Click this link to access their Otherwise working-day calculator
There is also a useful one-page downloadable PDF which covers this - Factors to use to decide whether a day is an otherwise working day
There is also more detailed information here related to paying staff for Public Holidays
Hopefully, this makes your post-Easter pay run a little simpler.
