NZ Holiday Pay Calculator

Under the Holidays Act 2003, all employees are entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid annual leave per year after 12 months of continuous employment. This is in addition to the 11 statutory public holidays, sick leave, and bereavement leave.

OWP is what an employee is normally paid for an ordinary working week. For salaried employees this is usually annual salary ÷ 52. For hourly employees with regular hours, it's hours per week × hourly rate. For employees with variable hours, the employer uses a 4-week average from the date the leave is taken (Holidays Act s 8).

AWE is gross earnings over the previous 52 weeks ÷ 52. 'Gross earnings' includes all taxable wages, overtime, commission, productivity bonuses, and most allowances — but excludes discretionary bonuses, weekly compensation under ACC, and reimbursements (Holidays Act s 14).

The greater-of test ensures that workers with variable income (overtime, commission, bonuses) don't lose out on holiday pay. If you've had a strong year of overtime, AWE will be higher and protects you. If you've had unpaid leave that drags AWE down, OWP protects you. Either way, leave is paid at the better rate.

RDP is what an employee would have been paid if they'd worked the day in question (for a public holiday, sick day, or bereavement day). ADP is gross earnings ÷ whole-or-part days paid over the previous 52 weeks, used only when RDP cannot be determined or daily pay varies (Holidays Act s 9, s 9A).

Yes. If you work on a public holiday, you're paid time-and-a-half (1.5×) on the hours actually worked. If the public holiday is also an otherwise working day for you, you also earn an alternative day off (also called a 'day in lieu' or 'lieu day') to take at another time at your normal rate.

Pay-as-you-go (8%) is only allowed for two groups: genuine casual employees with no predictable work pattern, and fixed-term employees on contracts shorter than 12 months. It must be agreed in the employment agreement, and the 8% (at least 8% of gross earnings) must be itemised as a separate line on the payslip — it cannot be hidden in the hourly rate. If a casual employee develops a regular pattern, they switch to standard 4-weeks accrual.

On termination, you receive a final holiday pay calculated as: (a) any unused annual leave from prior years, paid at the greater of OWP and AWE, plus (b) 8% of your gross earnings since your most recent leave anniversary date — a base that itself includes the unused-leave payment from (a), per the Holidays Act 2003 (s 26(a) for gross earnings, s 24(2) for the unused-leave payment). This final pay must be made in the pay period in which you leave.

Regular overtime that forms part of normal earnings is included in gross earnings (and therefore in AWE). Whether it's included in OWP depends on whether it's part of your 'ordinary' working week — case law suggests regular, predictable overtime should be included. Discretionary or one-off overtime typically isn't.

There are 11 statutory public holidays per year: New Year's Day, the day after New Year's Day, Waitangi Day (6 Feb), Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (25 Apr), King's Birthday (1st Mon Jun), Matariki, Labour Day (4th Mon Oct), Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. There are also regional Anniversary Days observed by region.