Minimum Wage

General

The minimum wage in New Zealand is currently set at 21.20 NZD per hour and 169.60 NZD a day, based on an 8-hour day.

Payroll

Payroll Cycle

Payroll frequency is the Employers choice; however, common frequencies are monthly or bi-weekly (every two weeks).

13th Salary

In New Zealand, there is no legal requirement for 13th-month payments.

Working Hours

General

New Zealand does not have a minimum requirement. Common full-time hours are 7.5 hours to 8.0 hours per day.

Overtime

All working hours over the standard working hours per week are to be paid as overtime and are regulated by employment contract or collective agreements.. Before commencing, overtime must be mutually agreed upon between the employee and the employer.

The payment of overtime hours is not a legal requirement; however, they are usually paid at a rate of 150% of the regular salary rate of pay.

Working Week

Monday-Friday

Leave

Paid Time Off

Employees are entitled to a paid annual leave entitlement of four weeks following a year of service; unused leave will be compensated in the case of an employee’s termination.

Public Holidays

10 public holidays.

Sick Days

The New Zealand Parliament passed the Holidays Amendment Bill to increase the minimum employee sick leave entitlement from 5 days to 10 days per annum, after six months of continuous employment with their employer.

The law changed on 24 July 2021 – however, the change will only come into effect for each employee when they reach their next entitlement date. This will either be after their first six months of employment or on their sick leave entitlement anniversary 12 months after they received an entitlement to sick leave.

If an employee already receives ten or more sick days a year, they will not be affected. Under the new law, employees will only be able to carry over ten unused sick days each year to add to their annual entitlement, up to a maximum of 20 days of current entitlement in any year. This applies to full-time, part-time, and fixed-term employees, where that fixed term is longer than six months.

A casual employee will also be entitled to sick leave where 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 1 hour in every week or 40 hours in every month. Sick leave is not to be pro-rated in any way.

Maternity Leave

In New Zealand, maternity leave is known as Primary carer leave and is available to:

Female employees who are having a baby, her spouse or partner, and employees who are going to have the primary responsibility for the care, development, and upbringing of a child under six years permanently; this may for example be through adoption  but it does not include a foster care or other temporary care basis. If the employee has a spouse or partner, they may choose who will be the primary carer.

Pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks of primary care leave and are paid between 177.00 NZD to 585.80 NZD by the government per week before tax.

Primary carer leave starts on the due date, or the date child birth starts if the child is born to the employee. In any other case, primary carer leave starts when the employee becomes the primary carer in respect of the child. The employee can start their primary carer leave up to six weeks (or earlier with the employer’s consent) before the baby’s due date or when the employee will become the child’s primary carer.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave is known as Partners leave in New Zealand and entitles partner’s to leave starting 21 days before the due date of the baby, or the date employee’s partner or spouse becomes the primary carer for a child under six years, and ending 21 days after the baby is born (unless the baby is discharged from a hospital more than 21 days after the birth, in which case the partner’s leave timeframe ends on the day the child is discharged) or the date employee’s partner or spouse becomes the primary carer for the child

Parental Leave

There is a range of Parental leave options in New Zealand for:

• special leave — unpaid leave for pregnancy-related appointments
• primary carer leave
• extended leave
• spouse or partner’s leave
• negotiated carer leave — if you’re not eligible for work leave.

Other Leave

Depending on the Collective Agreement/Employment Contract terms, an employee may be allowed additional leave types, on approved between the employer and employee, for the following:

• Special Leave-10 days of unpaid leave, which is given to employees for pregnancy-related appointments.
• Extended Leave – This is extended unpaid leave given to parents and depends on the amount of time an employee has worked. An employee may be entitled to 52 extra weeks of leave if they have been employed for at least 12 months, and 26 weeks is given to a parent who has been employed for at least six months.

Termination

Termination Process

The termination process varies according to the terms of the Employment Agreement and Collective Agreement in place and will depend upon the type of contract and reason for termination. An employer must provide sufficient notice before terminating the employment contract except for the case of gross misconduct.

Notice Period

An employee wishing to terminate their employment must provide sufficient notice, the amount of which will be outlined in the employment agreement and is typically of a duration between two and four weeks.

If there’s no specific clause in the employment agreement then ‘reasonable notice’ must be given. The length of ‘reasonable notice’ depends on a variety of factors, such as:

• the reason for the redundancy
• the employee’s length of service
• the employee’s seniority and/or remuneration package
• custom, practice, and industry norms
• the employee’s ability to find alternative employment
• the amount of compensation being paid (if any)

Severance Pay

Severance payments include the hours worked until the final day and any unused annual leave or days in lieu payments. All details of the payment entitlement are stipulated with the employment agreement and/or negotiated as a part of the leaving package.

Probation Period

The statutory (trial period) probation period in New Zealand begins on the first day at work and can be for up to 90 days.  The actual timeframe will be stipulated in the employment contract and is only applicable to employees who have not worked for the employer before.

Common Benefits

General

• Mileage and travel allowances/reimbursements
• Phone allowances
• Wellness allowances
• Parking allowances

VISA

VISA

A foreigner can apply for a work visa when there is:

• a job offer from a New Zealand employer
• a specific work-related purpose or event
• a country that has a particular work scheme
• a person has been studying in New Zealand

Some work visas can also lead to residence — that is, the right to live, study and work indefinitely.

To apply, there are required skills, experience, and qualifications needed for the New Zealand workforce.

Types of New Zealand work visas include:

• Essential skills work Visa – Temporary work visa that alll0ws employment from 1-5 years.
• Work to residence Visas – Temporary visa options that  allow employees who work full-time for two years to receive residence status.
• Working holiday Visas – Allows for work and travel from 12 – 23 months. These visa schemes depend upon your country of origin.
• Specific purpose Visa – Visa for employees meant to complete a particular task. These Visas typically last 3-12 months, with sometimes 3-year visas being granted to multinational employees.
• Relocating business Visa – used if the company or employer are relocating to New Zealand.

In addition, with effect from 1st November 2021, all New Zealand employers who hire migrant employees will have to be accredited.

VAT

General

The standard rate of GST in New Zealand is 15.00%.