Changes to the rules around leave will be revealed today.
The Government is announcing their overhaul of the 2003 Holidays Act, which includes annual, sick, and bereavement leave regulations.
Employers and Manufacturers Association's Alan McDonald told Mike Hosking hourly accrual of leave is expected to come in.
He says this will simplify processes and take the sting out of the back-pay issue employers have at the moment.
McDonald says the overhaul is a long time coming, and while there may be some political tradeoff, both employers and employees will benefit.
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Episode Transcript
Big Holidays Act shake up coming today. They're looking to
simplify the law, reduced compliance burdens, move to an OW
based a crual model for leave. Allen McDonald as the
Employer's Manufacturer's Association head of Advocacy and is with us. Ellen,
very good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
To you morning, Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Are you hopeful today?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I think we are and just rarely looking forward to
getting this out of the way. It's been a long
two years trying to get this thing done.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Do you think it will be done? Do you have
a sense of what's coming. Have you been given a
heads up or no?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh. I think a couple of the key things that
we're after we'd like to see will come in and
that day will be the hour of your cruel that
you referred to earlier, which just simplifies everything for employers
and takes the thing out of the back pay issue
that we've got at the moment. And also I think
the reduction certain moment part and casual workers part time
and casuals get ten days sick leave that came in
(00:48):
at the end of COVID and we've been asking since
then all before then for pro rata for part and
casual workers and I think we'll get that too.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So when that's announced, will you have twenty four hours
at the union screaming and that'll be that?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't know. I think there will be some political
trade off, but actually both employees and employers benefit from this.
There's a couple of little swings and roundabouts where employees
will get a slight list in one of the part
payments they get. Also they get their sickly, even their
annual even toitlements from day one. At the moment you
have to wait for twelve months.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
I look, I'm completely out of touch with this because
I've only ever been employed on a contract and I
get X number of dollars a year to turn up
and talk to people like you and that's the beginning
of the middle and the end of it. And I've
always enjoyed that because it's incredibly simple and you know
where you are. Is employment in this country too complex?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I think the holiday's actors and I think everybody agrees,
because it's cost some businesses tens of millions of dollars,
it's cost others tens of thousands of dollars, and of
course the government's got two point two billion set aside
from back pay on holiday pay in the public sector
and both in education and the health sector.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And so does that flush through today with time with
the changes. In other words, you will solve that problem
as of today or the changes, yeah, or or whenever.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, but it'll take time. It's about probably two years
away from getting the legislation in place because you've got
to rewrite software and all that kind of stuff. And
then there's a transition issue. So what actually happens with
all those historical claims because you can go back six years,
so I would imagine that might be where some of
the tension comes from. Well, I don't think they'll do
away with the six years' ability to claim back though,
(02:29):
so but we'll see.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
All right, let's see what happens to day two o'clock
this afternoon, I'm told Allen McDonald excuse me, Employers and
Manufacturers Association, head of advocacy.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
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