New Zealand Holidays Act Information for current and past MidCentral DHB employees.
Background to Holidays Act Remediation:
In early 2020, Te Whatu ora – Te Pae Haurora o Ruahine or Tararua MidCentral started its Holidays Act Compliance Programme. Like most New Zealand employers, there were areas identified where the District Health Boards were not fully compliant with the Act.
Te Whatu Ora - MidCentral has set up the Holidays Act Compliance Programme in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the baseline document agreed upon between the 20 District Health Boards, the Council of Trade Unions and the Labour Inspectorate. This was done to ensure all process steps were incorporated and the payments were made correctly to all our current and former employees. These process steps are outlined below:
i) Review Process
Te Whatu Ora - MidCentral followed the framework document and conducted its own end-to-end system review through an external consultant. This will be in line with the baseline document to validate and review key payroll issues relating to compliance with the Holidays Act that impacted the organisation and its employees.
Current Status: This work has been completed.
ii) Rectification Process
The outcome of the review process has informed us of the changes and updates required to our payroll system and processes. These changes will be incorporated in accordance with the agreements made in the MoU and the baseline document and are based on national decisions that apply to all Te Whatu Ora districts. An independent audit will also be undertaken to ensure our rectified payroll system is compliant with the Holidays Act. This would ensure all arrears are calculated accurately.
Current Status: Changes have been made to our payroll systems and these are currently undergoing testing to ensure an error free and fully compliant payroll. Testing is expected to complete by mid 2023 and changes will be applied to the payroll processing after that.
iii) Remediation Process
Te Whatu Ora - MidCentral is to calculate arrears owed to all current and past employees going back to 1 May 2010 in line with agreed interpretations of the Holidays Act. All entitlements and payments must be calculated sequentially by date as each entitlement affects the gross earnings of the next one calculated. Any monies owed to current and former employees need to be paid to these employees as soon as practicable.
Current Status: Remediation calculation models have been developed and undergoing testing. Once the payroll system has been rectified, these models will be applied to calculate all arrears.
iv) Remediation Payment Process
Once all the arear calculations are completed and tested with diligence, the payment process will start and we will receive money from the treasury to pay for any arrears.
Current Status: This process will be developed once the remediation process has been completed.
Additional Information and Resources
