There is a possibility that the amount of sick leave could be changed, with reductions for part-time staff being considered.
In an interview with the Morning Report, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was questioned about whether his government considers cutting the number of leave days from 10 to five.
“That’s something that I know Brooke van Velden is looking into. She looks at a whole raft of workplace relations,” Luxon replied.
“It’s a bit premature for now.”
Brooke van Velden is New Zealand’s Workplace Relations and Safety Minister.
At present, all employees—whether full-time, part-time, or casual—are entitled to 10 days of sick leave provided they have been continuously employed by their employer for six months, have worked an average of at least 10 hours per week, and have worked at least one hour each week or 40 hours per month.
It is also allowed to carry forward up to 10 days of unused sick leave into the following year.
The previous Labour government raised the number of sick days from five to 10 in 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the national government did not support the changes at that time, it pledged not to decrease the number of sick days provided to employees during the last election campaign.
Brooke van Velden has been developing a draft bill that would adjust sick leave entitlements to be proportional to the number of hours an individual works.
In a statement last year, Van Velden said, “Workplaces that rely on part-time workers are particularly vulnerable to unexpected staffing shortages. To explore this issue further, the exposure draft set for consultation will include a proposed approach to pro-rating sick leave, to better reflect how much an employee works.”