17 January 2022 Right Honourable Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Private Bag 18888 Parliament Buildings Wellington 6160 OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL WOOD MINISTER FOR WORKPLACE RELATIONS AND SAFETY – YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF THE ROT FIRST BEFORE PUTTING YOUR TRUST IN PAYROLL PROVIDERS AND THEIR SOFTWARE TO FIX THE HOLIDAYS
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Open letter to Minister – Payroll must not be used to fix the shortcomings of the new Holidays Act
10 January 2022 Right Honourable Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Private Bag 18888 Parliament Buildings Wellington 6160 Open Letter to Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety – PAYROLL MUST NOT BE USED TO FIX THE SHORTCOMINGS OF ANY NEW HOLIDAYS ACT Dear Minister In this latest open letter, I want
Changing the Holidays Act Name to the Employee Leave Act, Ministers response
Changing the Holidays Act Name to the Employee Leave Act, Ministers response
EMPLOYERS DODGE $500 MILLION BULLET AS COURT OF APPEAL RULES BONUSES NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN HOLIDAY PAY
A Court of Appeal decision may have saved businesses millions of dollars in potential backpay. The Court of Appeal has overturned an Employment Court ruling, which said that payments from bonus schemes should be used in holiday pay calculations. The case between Metropolitan Glass and Glazing and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE),
YOU CAN’T RETROFIT THE HOLIDAYS ACT WHEN USING A ROTATING ROSTER, SO PULL YOUR HEAD IN AND DO IT RIGHT!
Author: David Jenkins NZPPA CEO I write on topics in payroll that I believe are current and timely, and I judge that from the type of questions we get through to the NZPPA PayTech Adviceline. Over the last couple of months, I have seen a trend in questions on how to calculate annual holidays for
Response from the Hon Michael Wood On NZPPA issues raised with the Holidays Act Better Rules Process
20 21 612 – David Jenkins response (Better Rules approach)
Open Letter to the Minister on issues raised with the Holidays Act Better Rules Process
21 August 2021 Right Honourable Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Private Bag 18888 Parliament Buildings Wellington 6160 Open Letter to Michael Wood Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety – The New Holidays Act Cannot Fail – MBIE’s Better Rules Methodology Dear Minister This letter clearly states that the New Zealand
THE RISE OF THE FAKE PAYROLL CONSULTANT
The Holidays Act is an ongoing nightmare. (Will the government ever release the Holidays Act review? Hope it was a new year’s resolution!) There is a whole industry of people now promoting themselves as payroll experts, offering their services to resolve business payroll issues. Just because a person calls themselves a payroll expert does not
UPDATES TO A PAYROLL SYSTEM – WHY PAYROLL NEEDS TO BE PROACTIVE
I have stated time and time again that a payroll system is a tool and is not the actual payroll! The payroll practitioner is the one essential part of payroll that must be present to bring all the required components together to create a successful payroll. It is essential for payroll practitioners to drive the
TRANSFERING & DONATING LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS EARNED UNDER THE HOLIDAYS ACT– CAN YOU DO IT?
In this post, I want to talk about whether an employee can transfer leave from one company to another, or from one country to another. And I’ll also consider whether an employee can donate their leave to another employee. This is all regarding minimum entitlement earned under the Holidays Act. So, to start with the
WHAT GIVING TEN DAYS SICK LEAVE MEANS FOR PAYROLL
The government has introduced the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill and has stated it will go through the full select committee process before becoming law later in 2021 (not 1 April 2021). This was one of their election promises. So firstly, this is only a bill and is not yet law. A few things
WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS IN PAYROLL WHEN AN EMPLOYEE GETS ADDITIONAL ANNUAL HOLIDAYS
So, for my first post of 2021, I want to clarify a few points, which from my experience, are not understood or applied correctly in payroll when additional annual holidays are provided by agreement to an employee. When the Holidays Act was first implemented (1 April 2004), it provided three weeks of annual holidays (entitlement)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOU REDUCE AN EMPLOYEE’S PAY OR HOURS?
The current pandemic has seen a lot of confusion for employers as well as for employees about what happens when hours or pay are reduced. So, first things first, in general terms, an employer cannot reduce an employee’s pay or hours without first consulting with them and getting their agreement. In this post, I want
Q&A from MBIE to Payroll Providers (9 April 2020)
Click here to download Payroll Provider Q&A for release
CONVID 19 Latest information provided to payroll providers from MBIE Q&A
Click here to download Payroll Provider Q&A for release
IMPORTANT FOR NZ PAYROLL: IS THE WAGE SUBSIDY AND LEAVE PAYMENT IS TAXABLE FOR THE EMPLOYEE?
Short answer: Yes, they become part of the employee’s gross earnings. NZPPA has been in discussion with IRD on this since these new payments were announced and have had it confirmed that both the Wage Subsidy and leave payments are gross payments and PAYE is to be deducted along with all deductions (student loan, child
Example of how the Government Wage Subsidy and Leave Payment is taxed
The wage subsidy and leave payment are subject to tax and become part of gross taxable income for the employee. Example of the Wage Subsidy: A full-time employee (working more than 20 hours per week) would normally be paid $1000 gross per week. The company has been hit hard from the COVID-19 pandemic and applies
THE “NOTS” OF THE HOLIDAYS ACT ARE STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD!
I get questions every day on the Holidays Act and I am amazed that the fundamentals are still not understood, or for whatever reason are not being correctly applied to payroll. I do not see this as a fault of the Act as these areas are quite clear and could easily be applied to make
HOW CAN YOU RUN PAYROLL WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW IT?
I spend a lot of time explaining why things need to be done a certain way in payroll to senior managers and even payroll practitioners. It’s required to ensure compliance, best practice, reduce the cost of processing and security etc. In a lot of cases, there is no understanding on their part of the importance
CAN YOU PAY LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE FOR LEAVE PROVIDED UNDER THE HOLIDAYS ACT?
The short answer is YES. Now, this is not about the bad employer exploiting the downtrodden, overworked employee, this is just a consequence that can happen because of the averages used or that could be used under the Holidays Act. Before I get a lot of comments about social conscience and the living wage, I