This page is intended to help you learn more about public holiday entitlements in New Zealand.

💡 This advice is provided as general guidance only and not as specialist employment advice. PaySauce always recommends you consult an employment specialist if need help understanding a specific employment scenario that you have.

If you’re new to employing, we highly recommend you start off with the guidance from Employment NZ. Here’s their page on managing public holidays.

Specific days are recognised as public holidays in New Zealand. These are specified in the Holidays Act. We have included a list here for you, including the date the holiday falls on (or if it moves).

Central to employee entitlements for public holidays is the concept of an ‘otherwise working day’. An otherwise working day is a day that your employee would have otherwise worked had it not been a public holiday. Legislation in New Zealand does not provide a defined formula for defining an otherwise working day.

In many cases it’s easy to work out whether or not an employee would otherwise have worked on the day in question because the work pattern is known or predictable. If you can’t easily work out whether or not it is an otherwise working day for your employee, we recommend you follow the guidance set out by Employment NZ here.

Here’s a quick simple reference to what employee entitlements are for public holidays:

You can read more on the Employment NZ page about managing public holidays here.

When your employee does not work and needs to be paid for the day off, they should be paid either their relevant daily pay (what they would have earned on the day) or their average daily pay (if you can’t work out their relevant daily pay).

RDP is the daily pay the employee would have been paid if they had worked on the day.

Might include payments that employees doesn't receive for every day they work, but would have received if they had worked on that particular day - for example, overtime or additional allowances relating to work done.

When it is impossible or impracticable to work out an employee’s relevant daily pay, you can pay average daily pay instead.

ADP is calculated using the employee’s gross earnings and days paid over the last 52 weeks.

You can read more about relevant daily pay here.

You can read more about choosing when to use average daily pay here.

When an employee works on a public holiday, they must be paid at time and a half for time worked.

When your employee works on a public holiday and it is a day they would have otherwise worked, they are entitled to an alternative public holiday. These are sometimes colloquially referred to as a day in lieu, but it is important to record them correctly as an alternative public holiday and not use the ‘time in lieu’ entry. Your employee should receive one full day for the alternative public holiday regardless of time worked. For example, if your employee usually works 8 hours on a Monday but only worked 6 on a public holiday, they would be paid for the 6 hours worked at time and a half but the alternative public holiday should provide them with a fully paid day when they take it (so would need 8 hours to take a different Monday off).

Some public holidays are transferred to be observed on the next available working day when they fall on a Saturday or Sunday. The public holiday could be observed on the original date for an employee who works those days (i.e. if an employee usually works Saturday or Sunday). An employee cannot have the same public holiday recognised twice, so if you observe the holiday for an employee on the original date, the Monday would be a normal working day and no public holiday entitlements would apply.

If an employee works a shift that falls on a public holiday, they must be paid at least time and a half for the actual hours worked on the public holiday.

If the public holiday is an otherwise working day they also get an alternative holiday – even if only part of the shift fell on the public holiday.

It is possible that two separate shifts both partially fell across a public holiday. The employee must be paid time and a half for all hours that fell on the public holiday.

On call entitlements on public holidays can be difficult, as there is an element of consideration given to the extent to which your employee had to restrict their activity.

Here’s a quick reference table to understand what to do if your employee is on call on a day that would usually be a working day for them:

If your employee is on call on a day that would not be an otherwise working day for them (for example if they cover on call public holiday shifts only), alternative public holiday entitlements don’t apply.

If your employee is sick on a public holiday, the day is treated as a public holiday taken and paid as such. The employee does not need to use their sick leave to cover the public holiday.

If your employee suffers a bereavement or has reason to take family violence leave and takes a day off that is a public holiday, the day is treated as a public holiday taken and paid as such. The employee does not need to use bereavement or family violence leave to cover this day.

If your employee is taking annual leave and a public holiday falls in the period of time they are away, the day is paid as a public holiday taken and not as annual leave.

If your employee is on a period of long term planned unpaid leave such as ACC, parental leave or other agreed unpaid leave then you do not need to pay them for the public holiday, as they would not have otherwise worked. You may need to pay them in certain instances if the unpaid leave is short term, unplanned or other factors make it realistic that this day would have still been an otherwise working day. For example, if your employee is still in the ‘first week’ period of their ACC or if the employee has only taken a few days of unpaid sick leave. You should seek advice from an employment specialist if you are unsure.

Easter Sunday (although a restricted trading day till 1pm) is not a public holiday. You do not need to pay your staff extra for working on Easter Sunday, unless you have already agreed to do this in their employment agreement.