Education payroll (Holidays Act) review

For many years pay roll systems around the country have been calculating holiday pay in a way that does not comply with the Holidays Act 2003. This means it is likely that teachers have not been paid the holiday pay that they are entitled to.

In 2015 police and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment payrolls were found to be non-compliant with the Holidays Act, leading to audits of public sector and private sector payrolls. Very few were compliant, including education payroll.

Holiday pay investigation reaches teachers

The Ministry of Education has completed a review to investigate its compliance with the Holidays Act 2003 (the act) and has acknowledged there is a problem in the application of the act that will affect the majority of PPTA members.

The broad area of non-compliance relates to the manner in which types of leave are calculated and then applied to employees taking certain types of leave. Record keeping has also been identified as an area where further work will need to be conducted.

Payments for the last 6 years will have to be reassessed. Underpayments will mostly affect teachers who have had fluctuating hours and/or have been on paid leave. The amounts for most will probably be small (if anything) but for some it could be significant.

PPTA has joined a working party group with the other education sector unions and the ministry to look at this. It’s a hugely complicated area, and more so for teachers as our holidays are very different from other working people. The ministry is in the process of scoping the issue further and we anticipate it will take some time before a resolution to the matter will be finalised.

Holidays Act compliance - School payroll (Ministry of Education website)

Holidays Act Partial Payment Update 2024

Last modified on Wednesday, 17 May 2023 09:07