Q: We are after a case example or examples on what the value of the minimum 4 weeks annual leave should be if an employee changed their working pattern in the previous year.

We think it should be based on the value of the working week at the time but are struggling to find a case example to back this up.

Our payroll system simply converts the ‘accrual’ to be the entitlement (less any leave taken in advance). It’s all done in hours and days.

A: Are you talking about time or money here?

The value of a week of annual holiday entitlement is always the greater of AWE and OWP (Section 21 Holidays Act). The week (time) is an agreed term so when a week changes (by agreement) the new week is the week from that point and any entitlement earned prior gets converted to the new agreed week.

The value is still determined by the greater of AWE and OWP and that can mean that AWE may inflate the rate as it looks back 52 weeks.