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This year Christmas Day and New Years Day fall on a Friday. Then Boxing Day and the day after New Years Day fall on a Saturday.
Christmas Day and New Years Day will be observed on the Friday. This means that if a staff member works on that day, or would have worked on that day had it not been a public holiday, then they must be paid.
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For businesses that operate on a Saturday then Boxing Day and New Years Day will fall on the Saturday for staff who work or would have otherwise worked on that day. For all other staff the public holiday is transferred to the Monday and paid for all staff who work or would have otherwise worked on that day.
All payments need to be in accordance with the Holidays Act. Alternate holidays will also be required for staff who work on public holidays where that day is a normal working day.
MBIE have produced a really useful flowchart for helping you decide on which days are public holidays. If you need any further assistance with payment for public holidays contact a member of the Grow HR team.
Here's the FREE MBIE flowchart, click to download a PDF:
