The Holidays Act 2003 is being replaced. The Employment Leave Act 2026 received Royal assent on 6 August 2026 and comes into force on 6 August 2028 (its parental leave changes start earlier, on 1 July 2027; primary and secondary schools are not covered until 6 August 2036). Until 6 August 2028 the Holidays Act 2003 still applies in full, and that is what this guide explains.
Read the official texts: the Holidays Act 2003 and the Employment Leave Act reform page at MBIE.
Why we made this guide
Trying to understand New Zealand's Holidays Act 2003 can be a nightmare. It is full of legal terminology, complicated calculations and, in some areas, wording that leaves you wondering: "Okay, but what am I actually supposed to do?"
There is a reason this law is being replaced.
In the meantime, we wanted to make the current rules easier to understand. This guide is different from reading the legislation. We have stripped out the legal jargon, reduced the clutter, and turned the complicated and ambiguous areas into clear, structured, practical rules, and the official texts are linked at the end so you can check us.
Why us? We're RosterMates, a New Zealand owned and operated provider of rostering, time and attendance and leave management software, with exports to NZ payroll systems and IRD payday filing built in. Our engineers have spent a huge amount of time taking the Holidays Act's rules, working out how they need to operate in real-world situations, and turning them into structured rules our software can actually follow. Now you can follow them too, whether you use our software to automate all of it or do it by hand.
We turned "be reasonable" into something you can actually follow
Take something as basic as deciding whether a day is an otherwise working day for an employee with no fixed work pattern.
What the Act says
Consider the employment agreement, the employee's work patterns, and other relevant factors including "the reasonable expectations of the employer and the employee that the employee would work on the day concerned."
Our rule
Did the employee work on at least 50% of the previous 13 occurrences of that weekday?
Yes → treat it as an otherwise working day.
No → treat it as not an otherwise working day.
Employed less than 13 weeks? Use the weeks you have.
That is the difference. The legislation tells you to consider what is "reasonable". We turn that principle into a consistent rule that can be followed and automated. No 50-page interpretation exercise.
Public holidays are the part of the Act with the most moving parts, so this first guide covers them completely: otherwise working days, relevant vs average daily pay, time and a half, alternative holidays, Mondayisation, on-call, overnight shifts and sickness. Separate guides on annual, sick, bereavement, parental, family violence leave and leave without pay are being written and are listed at the end. Three free calculators are embedded below.
Public holidays: the basics
New Zealand has 12 public holidays a year: 11 national ones (New Year's Day, 2 January, Waitangi Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, King's Birthday, Matariki, Labour Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day) plus the anniversary day for the region the employee works in. Employees are entitled to public holiday benefits from their first day of employment. There is no qualifying period and casual employees are covered too, as long as the holiday is an otherwise working day for them.
Almost every public holiday question comes down to two things: was it a day they would otherwise have worked, and did they work it. Everything below builds on those two questions.
Definitions you must know first
- Otherwise working day OWD
- A day the employee would normally have worked if it wasn't a public holiday. Decided from the employment agreement, work pattern, rosters and reasonable expectations.
- Relevant daily pay RDP
- The amount the employee would have earned had they worked that day, including overtime, productivity or incentive payments they would have received, and the cash value of board or lodgings. This is the default.
- Average daily pay ADP
- Gross earnings for the 52 weeks before the end of the last pay period, divided by the whole or part days worked (including paid leave days) in that period. Only allowed in two situations, explained below.
- Time and a half
- The minimum for time actually worked on a public holiday: the RDP (or ADP) portion for the hours worked plus half again, or RDP plus any penal rate in the agreement, whichever is greater.
- Alternative holiday
- A whole paid day off, earned by working on a public holiday that was an otherwise working day. Often called a "day in lieu".
- Mondayisation
- The rule that treats six national holidays as falling on the following Monday (or Tuesday) when they land on a weekend the employee wouldn't normally work.
Otherwise working day: how to decide it for any employee
Before you get into anything else you must be able to say, for each employee and each public holiday, whether that day is an otherwise working day. There are three methods, depending on the employee.
Method 1: a known fixed weekly pattern
The employee works the same days every week. John works Monday to Friday, so a public holiday on a Friday is an otherwise working day for John and one on a Saturday is not. Easy.
Method 2: a fixed but rotating pattern
A "fixed pattern" can also be something like 4 days on, 4 days off, or a week on and a week off. These don't line up with the calendar week, so "does John work Mondays?" has no fixed answer. Instead you project the pattern forward from a known anchor date: take any real date that was day 1 of the cycle, count forward to the public holiday, and see which day of the cycle it lands on. Our free otherwise working day calculator does this for any cycle and any date, and it is embedded below.
Method 3: no fixed pattern (the lookback)
This is for employees who don't have a fixed working pattern, often casual staff. Use the lookback method:
The 13-week lookback is not written in the Holidays Act 2003. The Act just lists factors and says to consider reasonable expectations. Almost every automated workforce system uses some kind of lookback, but the ratios vary: 4 of 7, 3 of 4, even 10 of 12, which in our opinion is unfair on the employee.
We recommend 50% of the last 13 weeks because it is the test the Government has now put into law: the Employment Leave Act 2026 applies exactly this test (worked, or on paid or unpaid leave, on 50% or more of the same weekday in the preceding 13 weeks) for employees whose agreement doesn't specify their days of work, from 6 August 2028. It is the one definition of "reasonable" Parliament has explicitly endorsed.
If your business already uses a different ratio, check with your payroll team or adviser before changing it. In RosterMates the lookback window and threshold are settings you control; we suggest 13 weeks with a threshold of 7.
Relevant daily pay vs average daily pay
| Term | What it is | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Relevant daily pay (RDP) | What the employee would have earned had they worked that day. | Always, by default. |
| Average daily pay (ADP) | Gross earnings for the previous 52 weeks ÷ days worked (or on paid leave) in that period. | Only when RDP can't be determined, or the employee's daily pay varies within the pay period the holiday falls in. |
RDP is the default. ADP is only used when the law allows it: (1) it is not possible or practicable to work out RDP, or (2) the employee's daily pay varies during the pay period in which the public holiday falls.
Sarah earns $25 an hour and normally works 8 hours on a Monday. A public holiday falls on Monday. She would have earned 8 × $25 = $200. Her RDP is $200 and that is what you use.
John's daily pay changes significantly within the pay period because his hours and daily earnings change from day to day. If it isn't straightforward to determine what he would have earned on the public holiday, ADP can be used instead.
An employee can have variable hours and you may still be able to calculate their RDP. If the roster clearly shows they were going to work 6 hours on the public holiday, you can work out what they would have earned, so RDP applies. You don't switch to ADP just because someone is casual or has irregular hours. This is one of the most common underpayments we see.
One decision rule: Can you reasonably determine what the employee would have earned had they worked that day? Yes → use RDP. No → use ADP.
The five situations
1. Employee does NOT work, and the day IS an otherwise working day
You must pay the employee for the day. The minimum is their RDP, or ADP if ADP is allowed.
Sarah normally works Monday to Friday. Monday is a public holiday and she doesn't work. Monday is an otherwise working day, so Sarah is paid for the public holiday at least RDP (or ADP).
2. Employee does NOT work, and the day is NOT an otherwise working day
Nothing is owed for that day. No pay, no alternative holiday. The public holiday simply doesn't touch this employee.
3. Employee DOES work, and the day IS an otherwise working day
There are two separate entitlements:
- Time and a half. At least 1.5 × the applicable rate for the time actually worked.
- An alternative holiday. A whole paid day off to take later.
So: otherwise working day + employee works = time and a half + alternative holiday.
4. Employee DOES work, and the day is NOT an otherwise working day
This is an important distinction. You still pay at least time and a half for the work, but the employee does not automatically get an alternative holiday.
John normally works Tuesday to Saturday. Monday is a public holiday and you ask John to work it. John is paid at least 1.5× for the hours worked, and gets no alternative holiday.
5. Employee works only PART of the public holiday
The employee doesn't have to work the entire day to trigger the public holiday rules. If they work any part of the day, the time worked must be paid at the public holiday rate, and if the day was an otherwise working day they also get a whole alternative holiday.
An employee normally works 8am to 4pm. They work 8am to 12pm on the public holiday. You pay the 4 hours worked at time and a half and, because it was an otherwise working day, give a full alternative holiday, not a half day.
| Otherwise working day? | Employee works? | Pay | Alternative holiday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | RDP or ADP for the day | No |
| Yes | Yes, any part | ≥ 1.5× for hours worked | Yes, whole day |
| No | Yes | ≥ 1.5× for hours worked | No |
| No | No | Nothing | No |
When can you REQUIRE an employee to work a public holiday?
You can require an employee to work on a public holiday only when both are true:
- The day would otherwise be a working day for them, and
- Their employment agreement requires them to work on the public holiday.
So don't assume "it's a normal working day for them, therefore I can make them work." You also need the employment agreement to cover it. Without that clause you can ask, and they can say no.
Alternative holidays (days in lieu)
If a public holiday is an otherwise working day and the employee works on it, they get an alternative holiday. The alternative holiday must:
- be taken on a day agreed between employer and employee;
- be a day that would otherwise be a working day for the employee;
- be a whole working day off, regardless of how much of the public holiday was worked;
- not be another public holiday.
The employee doesn't get only the number of hours they worked. If someone who normally works 8 hours works just 2 hours on Christmas Day, they still get a whole working day as their alternative holiday.
Who chooses the date?
Ideally the employer and employee agree. If they can't, the employer can set the date on a reasonable basis, and must give the employee at least 14 days' notice.
How much is it worth?
The employee must receive at least their RDP or ADP for the day the alternative holiday is taken.
What if it is never taken?
The entitlement stays until it is taken or paid out. An employee can ask to exchange an alternative holiday for cash, but only after 12 months have passed since it was earned, and only if the employer agrees. An employer cannot force a cash-up. Any alternative holidays still owing when employment ends are paid out in the final pay.
Employees on call
There are special rules for employees who are on call on a public holiday.
- On call and called in to work. If the day would otherwise have been a working day, they are entitled to an alternative holiday, and the time actually worked is paid under the public holiday rules (time and a half).
- On call but NOT called in. They can still be entitled to an alternative holiday if the on-call restrictions were so significant that, practically speaking, they did not have a whole holiday. Having to stay sober, stay in town and be ready to leave within 20 minutes is a very different thing from "we might text you".
Mondayisation and Tuesdayisation
Six national holidays have rules that move them when they fall on a weekend. The purpose is to make sure an employee does not lose a public holiday simply because it falls on a Saturday or Sunday they would not normally work.
The public holiday itself does not change on the calendar. Instead, the law treats the public holiday as falling on a different day for that particular employee when deciding their entitlements. Two employees in the same team can have the same holiday on different days.
Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and 2 January
| Falls on | Would the employee otherwise work that day? | Treated as falling on | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Yes | Saturday | They would have worked it anyway, so nothing needs moving. |
| Saturday | No | The following Monday | Otherwise they'd miss the holiday entirely. |
| Sunday | Yes | Sunday | Same logic. |
| Sunday | No | The following Tuesday | Monday is already taken by the Saturday holiday in the pair (Christmas/Boxing Day or 1/2 January), so both are recognised in the working week. |
Waitangi Day and Anzac Day
Same purpose, simpler rule. If Waitangi Day or Anzac Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday: if that day would otherwise be a working day the holiday stays there; if not, it is treated as falling on the following Monday.
Everything else
Good Friday, Easter Monday, King's Birthday, Labour Day and Matariki are always on a Friday or Monday by definition, so they never need moving. Regional anniversary days are not covered by the Mondayisation rules; the day each region observes is set by local custom and is usually already a Monday or Friday.
The whole rule in one chart
Start at the top and follow the answers. Green means the holiday stays on its calendar date; orange and purple mean it moves for that employee.
Christmas Day 2027 is a Saturday and Boxing Day is a Sunday. For a Monday-to-Friday employee, Christmas Day is treated as Monday 27 December and Boxing Day as Tuesday 28 December, so they get both days off on pay. For a café worker who normally works Saturdays and Sundays, both holidays stay on the weekend, and if they work them they get time and a half plus two alternative holidays. Use the public holidays by region tool to see which holidays move in any year.
Overnight shifts crossing a public holiday
There are special rules where an employee starts work on one day and finishes the next, and one or both days are public holidays. The employer and employee can agree in writing to transfer part of the public holiday so that a defined 24-hour period is treated as the public holiday, for example 7pm to 7pm. This is particularly relevant for night shifts, overnight care workers, security, hospitals, hospitality and other 24-hour operations.
Separately, an employer and employee can agree in writing to transfer a whole public holiday to another identified working day. The transfer must be for the employee's benefit, the new day must be an otherwise working day and not already a public holiday, and it can't be used to reduce the employee's entitlements.
Sick, bereaved, or on leave on a public holiday
If an employee was required, or had agreed, to work on a public holiday but cannot because they become sick or injured, the public holiday remains a public holiday. It does not become sick leave. If it was an otherwise working day they are paid RDP or ADP for the day, no sick leave is deducted, and because no work was done there is no time and a half and no alternative holiday. The same applies when the employee can't work because their spouse, partner or a dependant is sick or injured, for bereavement, and for family violence leave.
If a public holiday falls during a period of annual leave and it would otherwise have been a working day, it is treated as a public holiday, not annual leave, so no annual leave is deducted for that day.
What changes in 2028
The Employment Leave Act 2026 rewrites most of this from 6 August 2028. The headline changes for public holidays, as passed:
- A statutory otherwise working day test. For employees whose agreement doesn't specify their days of work, a day is an otherwise working day if they worked (or were on paid or unpaid leave) on 50% or more of the same weekday in the preceding 13 weeks. This is the rule we already recommend above.
- Hours, not days. Leave and alternative leave move to an hours-based system. Alternative leave for working a public holiday that is an otherwise working day accrues hour for hour for the hours worked, rather than as a whole day.
- Simpler pay calculations replacing the RDP/ADP framework.
We will publish a full breakdown, Employment Leave Act 2026: what changes on 6 August 2028, in this category. Until then, nothing in this guide changes.
