The leave is in subpart 5 of Part 2 of the Holidays Act 2003 (ss 72A–72J), in force until 6 August 2028, when the Employment Leave Act 2026 carries it over with two changes noted at the end. The flexible working right and the protection against adverse treatment are in the Employment Relations Act 2000 and are not affected by the 2028 change. Section numbers are from the Holidays Act unless stated.
If you or someone you know is in danger, call 111. For confidential support, the Family Violence Information Line is 0800 456 450 and Are You OK lists services in every region. Women's Refuge crisis line: 0800 733 843. Shine helpline: 0508 744 633.
New Zealand was one of the first countries to legislate paid family violence leave. It arrived on 1 April 2019 through the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Act 2018, which added the leave to the Holidays Act, added a short-term flexible working right and an anti-discrimination protection to the Employment Relations Act, and added family violence as a prohibited ground in the Human Rights Act. It is a small package of law with a clear purpose: a person leaving a violent relationship should not also lose their job or their income while they do it.
Seven years on it is still under-used, partly because employees don't know it exists and partly because employers aren't sure what they are allowed to ask. This guide sets out both sides: what the employee is entitled to, what the employer may require, and how to handle the conversation. It is part of our plain-English series on NZ employment leave.
Quick answers
| Question | Answer | Section |
|---|---|---|
| How much? | Up to 10 days per 12-month period | s 72H(a) |
| From when? | After 6 months' current continuous employment, or the 6-month hours test | s 72D(1) |
| Who? | A person experiencing or who has experienced family violence, or who lives with a child who has | s 72B |
| When did it happen? | Doesn't matter; can be before the employment started | s 72C(a) |
| Carry-over? | No | s 72H(b) |
| Proof? | Employer may require it; no set form | s 72G |
| Paid at? | Relevant daily pay or average daily pay for otherwise working days | s 72I |
| Paid out on leaving? | No | s 72F |
| Flexible working? | Up to 2 months, employer replies within 10 working days | ERA Part 6AB |
Who is a "person affected by family violence" (s 72B)
The Act covers two groups:
- a person against whom any other person is inflicting, or has inflicted, family violence; and
- a person with whom there ordinarily or periodically resides a child against whom any other person is inflicting, or has inflicted, family violence.
"Family violence" takes its meaning from s 9 of the Family Violence Act 2018, which is broad: physical, sexual and psychological abuse, including intimidation, harassment, coercive control, financial abuse and damage to property, by a person in a family relationship, which includes partners, ex-partners, family members and people who share a household. It doesn't need to have been reported to Police, and there doesn't need to be a protection order.
Two things the Act says on purpose:
- The leave is available regardless of how long ago the family violence occurred, and even if it happened before the person became an employee (s 72C(a)). Attending a Family Court hearing about something that happened three years ago is within the entitlement.
- The second group means a parent or caregiver of a child who has experienced violence (for example, from the other parent) is covered in their own right, whether or not the violence was directed at them.
The person using the violence is not covered by this leave.
Who qualifies and when (s 72D)
Same gateway as sick and bereavement leave: 6 months' current continuous employment, or, for employees without that, a 6-month period averaging at least 10 hours a week with at least 1 hour every week or 40 hours every month (s 72D(1)). The entitlement then runs for the following 12 months and each 12 months after (s 72D(2)). Employers may agree to grant it in advance (s 72D(3)), and in our view should.
Ten days, per year, no carry-over (s 72H)
Up to 10 days in each 12-month period. Days not taken in a period are lost; there is no accumulation (s 72H(b)). The 10 days are in addition to sick leave, bereavement leave and annual leave, and an employee can use any of those as well. The Act does not limit what the days are used for beyond the purpose in s 72A, "to deal with the effects" of the violence, which Employment New Zealand describes as including moving house, attending court, seeing a lawyer or counsellor, arranging childcare or school changes, and getting medical treatment. The employer does not get to judge whether a particular use is worthwhile.
As with sick leave, a day of family violence leave is only taken, and only paid, on a day that would otherwise have been a working day (s 72I(1)), so a part-timer's 10 days are 10 of their days. The Act counts whole days; we deduct part days in proportion, and 2028 makes that explicit.
Telling the employer (s 72E)
The employee must notify the employer of the intention to take the leave as early as possible before they are due to start work on the day, or if that isn't practicable, as early as possible afterwards. That is the entire obligation. The employee does not have to explain the circumstances, name the person responsible, or say what they will be doing with the day.
The single biggest barrier is the employee having to disclose to their direct manager. A good policy names one or two people (HR, a senior manager, an external EAP contact) an employee can go to instead, says the disclosure will be kept confidential and recorded separately from the general personnel file, and says the leave will be coded on the payslip in a neutral way. The Act doesn't require any of this; the purpose of the Act does.
Proof (ss 72G, 72J)
An employer may require proof that the employee is a person affected by family violence (s 72G). If proof is required and the employee fails to produce it without reasonable excuse, the employer is not required to pay the leave until they do (s 72J(2)). The Act says nothing about what proof is acceptable or how quickly it must be produced, which is the opposite of the sick leave section with its 3-day rule and health practitioner definition.
| Could be proof | Not reasonable to demand |
|---|---|
| A letter or email from a family violence support organisation (Women's Refuge, Shine, a Whānau Ora provider) A letter from a lawyer, counsellor, social worker, doctor or nurse A Police report number or a Police Safety Order A protection order or court document A statutory declaration by the employee |
A Police report where none was made Details of the incidents The name of the person responsible Photographs of injuries Proof re-supplied for every day of leave |
Decide in advance, in your policy, whether you will ask for proof at all, and if so accept any of the documents in the left column, once per 12-month period, not per day. Tell the employee at the time of the first request that proof is needed, give a reasonable time to get it, and pay the leave provisionally while you wait. Family violence leave is 10 days a year at most; the cost of an unnecessary confrontation with someone in crisis is far higher than the cost of a day of leave paid in good faith.
How family violence leave is paid (ss 72I–72J)
For each day of leave that would otherwise be a working day, pay relevant daily pay, or average daily pay where s 9A allows it (s 72I(1)), in the pay for the period in which the leave is taken (s 72J(1)).
- Relevant daily pay is what the employee would have earned on the day, including overtime, commission or incentive payments they would have received (s 9). Default.
- Average daily pay (52 weeks' gross earnings ÷ days worked or on paid leave) only if RDP can't be determined or daily pay varies within the pay period (s 9A).
The ACC interactions mirror sick leave: no leave pay is owed for time on ACC weekly compensation, the employer can't force family violence leave to be used for work-injury compensation periods, and a 1-day-per-5-days top-up deduction can be agreed (s 72I(2)–(4)).
On a public holiday or during annual leave
- Public holiday. An employee who was going to work a public holiday and can't because they have become entitled to take family violence leave is treated exactly like a sick employee: the day stays a public holiday, paid at RDP or ADP if it was an otherwise working day, no leave deducted, no time and a half, no alternative holiday (s 61A(1)(c)).
- Annual leave. If the need arises during annual holidays, the employer must allow those days to be family violence leave instead of annual leave (s 37A). This is mandatory, like bereavement.
Not paid out (s 72F)
Untaken family violence leave has no cash value when employment ends.
Short-term flexible working (Employment Relations Act 2000, Part 6AB)
Alongside the leave, an employee affected by family violence has a specific statutory right to ask for a short-term variation of their working arrangements. It works differently from the general flexible working right in Part 6AA, and faster.
| Rule | Detail | ERA section |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Any employee who is a person affected by family violence, regardless of when the violence occurred or how long they've been employed | s 69ABB |
| What | A variation to hours, days, place of work, workplace location, duties, the contact details the employee must provide, or any other term the employee thinks needs changing to deal with the effects of family violence | s 69ABA |
| How long | Up to 2 months | s 69ABC(b) |
| Form | In writing, stating it is made under Part 6AB, the variation, the start and end dates, how it will help, and what changes the employer may need to make | s 69ABC |
| Employer's deadline | Respond in writing as soon as possible and within 10 working days; when responding, provide information about specialist family violence support services | s 69ABE |
| Proof | The employer may require proof, but only if it asks within 3 working days of receiving the request; the employee then has until 10 working days after the request to provide it | s 69ABEA |
| Grounds for refusal | Only that required proof wasn't produced in time, or that the request can't reasonably be accommodated on listed business grounds (inability to reorganise work or recruit, detrimental impact on quality, performance or customer demand, insufficient work in the proposed hours, planned structural changes, burden of additional costs). Refusal must state the ground and the reasons | ss 69ABE(3), 69ABF |
| Longer changes | The employee can also make a normal Part 6AA request for a permanent or longer variation (employer responds within 1 month) | s 69ABB(3) |
Typical requests: moving to a different branch so the employee's location isn't predictable, changing shift times so the employee isn't leaving in the dark, working from home for a few weeks, being excused from a customer-facing role, or having a changed phone number and no listing on a public staff directory. A Labour Inspector can help, and an unresolved dispute goes to mediation and then the Employment Relations Authority, which can impose a penalty for non-compliance with the process.
Protection against adverse treatment (ERA s 108A; Human Rights Act s 62A)
It is a personal grievance for an employer to dismiss, retire, refuse the same terms, conditions, training or promotion opportunities, or subject to any detriment an employee on the ground that they are, or are suspected, assumed or believed to be, a person affected by family violence (Employment Relations Act ss 103(1)(da), 108A). This applies regardless of when the violence happened. Being affected by family violence is also a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Human Rights Act 1993 (s 62A). In practical terms: performance concerns that arise from the effects of family violence are to be handled with that context in mind, and the fact that an employee has disclosed is never a reason to pass them over.
What a good employer policy contains
- A plain statement of the 10-day entitlement and the flexible working right, with the qualifying period and a commitment to grant leave in advance.
- Named contacts other than the direct manager, and a confidentiality commitment.
- A proof position (whether you ask, what you accept, once per year) applied consistently.
- Neutral payslip and leave-system coding.
- Safety planning at work: changed contact details, reception instructions, escort to vehicles, what to do if the person responsible comes to the workplace.
- Support service contacts, and the EAP if you have one.
- A note that the person using violence, if also an employee, will be dealt with under the disciplinary and health and safety processes.
The mistakes we see most
- Not offering it. Many employees, and some payroll systems, don't know the leave exists. It should be on the leave request form.
- Demanding a Police report as the only acceptable proof.
- Asking for the story. The employee does not owe the employer an account of the violence.
- Refusing because the violence was "historic" or happened before the employee started (s 72C).
- Deducting sick leave instead, using up an entitlement that carries over to pay for one that doesn't.
- Missing the 10-working-day deadline on a flexible working request, or responding without the support-services information.
- Treating disclosure as a performance issue. That is exactly what s 108A prohibits.
What changes on 6 August 2028
The Employment Leave Act 2026 keeps family violence leave at up to 10 days per 12-month period, non-cumulative and not paid out, with the same definition of a person affected by family violence and the same proof provision (ELA ss 102–110). Two changes:
- Available from the employee's first day, with the 12-month periods running from the start date, no 6-month qualifying period (ELA s 104).
- Part days may be taken, counted as a proportion of a day, and an overnight shift is one day (ELA ss 110(3), 111).
It is paid at the new hourly leave payment rate plus fixed allowances, and if proof is required and not provided the employer must not deduct the leave from the entitlement in the meantime (ELA s 122(3)(b)). The Employment Relations Act rights on flexible working and adverse treatment are unchanged.
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Frequently asked questions
How much family violence leave do employees get in New Zealand?
Up to 10 days of paid family violence leave in each 12-month period, after 6 months' current continuous employment or once the 6-month hours test is met (ss 72C–72H). It does not carry over and is not paid out. It is separate from, and in addition to, sick leave and annual leave.
Who counts as a person affected by family violence?
A person against whom another person is inflicting or has inflicted family violence, or a person with whom a child who has experienced family violence ordinarily or periodically lives (s 72B). The leave is available regardless of how long ago the violence occurred, even if it was before the person started the job (s 72C).
Can an employer ask for proof of family violence?
Yes. Section 72G lets an employer require proof that the employee is a person affected by family violence, and if it is required and not produced without reasonable excuse, payment can be withheld until it is (s 72J). The Act does not say what proof is acceptable. Employment New Zealand's guidance is that employers should be flexible; a letter from a support organisation, a lawyer, a doctor, or a police or court document could all be proof.
What are short-term flexible working arrangements for family violence?
Under Part 6AB of the Employment Relations Act 2000, an employee affected by family violence may request a variation to hours, days, place of work or other terms for up to 2 months. The employer must respond in writing within 10 working days, must give the employee information about specialist support services, and may refuse only if required proof was not provided or on specified business grounds.
How is family violence leave paid?
At relevant daily pay, or average daily pay where the Act allows it, for each day of leave that would otherwise have been a working day (s 72I), in the pay for that period.
Can an employer treat an employee badly for being affected by family violence?
No. Section 108A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 makes it a personal grievance to dismiss, disadvantage, or refuse the same terms, training or promotion to an employee because they are, or are believed to be, a person affected by family violence. Being affected by family violence is also a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Human Rights Act 1993.
Does the person using the violence get family violence leave?
No. The entitlement is for the person the violence is inflicted on, or the caregiver of a child it is inflicted on (s 72B).
Sources
- Holidays Act 2003, sections 9, 9A, 37A, 61A and 72A–72J. New Zealand Legislation.
- Employment Relations Act 2000, Part 6AB (ss 69ABA–69ABK) and sections 103(1)(da), 108A. New Zealand Legislation.
- Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Act 2018, in force 1 April 2019.
- Employment Leave Act 2026 (as passed), sections 101–119 and 122. New Zealand Legislation.
- Family violence leave, Employment New Zealand.
Last checked 16 September 2026 against the current text of each Act. If a rule here is wrong or out of date, tell us; we will correct it and note the change.
