After a university association was found to have breached employment law recently, a Labour Inspectorate has warned employers to get their employees’ entitlements right.
The University of Canterbury Students Association (UCSA) has been asked to reimburse several employees after breaching their holiday pay entitlements.
Stuff reports that UCSA was issued with an improvement notice after a complaint was lodged by a former employee who claimed that he had not received his full entitlements for annual leave and sick leave.
UCSA reportedly described a number of employees as ‘casual’ when in fact, they were part-time workers.
On Wednesday, the inspectorate – which is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) – reminded employers that part-time employees who work regular, rostered hours are entitled to accrued holidays and leave.
Under the 2003 Holidays Act, part-time employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid leave and five days of sick leave pro rata if they have been with an employer for six months.
According Labour Inspectorate southern regional manager Stuart Lumsden, the inspectorate regularly sees cases where part-time workers are not given their legal entitlements because employers assume they can simply pay them a casual load instead.
“Employers need to remember that it is only acceptable and lawful to add 8% of gross earnings as annual holiday pay to regular pay packets for employees who are on a fixed term contract or who work irregularly or intermittently – for instance on-call workers,” he said.
“In all other cases the four weeks’ pro-rated rule applies.”
He added that there were dozens of similar cases each year across various sectors, and that the inspectorate would take action wherever these breaches occurred.
According to Stuff, UCSA has repaid the employees over $15,000 in arrears for breaches dating back to 2014.
Stuff reports that UCSA was issued with an improvement notice after a complaint was lodged by a former employee who claimed that he had not received his full entitlements for annual leave and sick leave.
UCSA reportedly described a number of employees as ‘casual’ when in fact, they were part-time workers.
On Wednesday, the inspectorate – which is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) – reminded employers that part-time employees who work regular, rostered hours are entitled to accrued holidays and leave.
Under the 2003 Holidays Act, part-time employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid leave and five days of sick leave pro rata if they have been with an employer for six months.
According Labour Inspectorate southern regional manager Stuart Lumsden, the inspectorate regularly sees cases where part-time workers are not given their legal entitlements because employers assume they can simply pay them a casual load instead.
“Employers need to remember that it is only acceptable and lawful to add 8% of gross earnings as annual holiday pay to regular pay packets for employees who are on a fixed term contract or who work irregularly or intermittently – for instance on-call workers,” he said.
“In all other cases the four weeks’ pro-rated rule applies.”
He added that there were dozens of similar cases each year across various sectors, and that the inspectorate would take action wherever these breaches occurred.
According to Stuff, UCSA has repaid the employees over $15,000 in arrears for breaches dating back to 2014.
