Q: I just wanted to confirm with NZPPA that the Gross taxable 52 week historical earnings should be divided by the 52 weeks then divided by the current contract agreed terms stipulated hours for the week. The part time employee is issued a new IEA adjustment letter  with each decrease/increase of hours with pro rata salary amount .The system updates the weeks of Annual leave so if they have equivalent of  4 annual leave weeks before the change they still have 4 weeks equivalent after the change ie very basically if the new hours are less than the previous contract  then the AL rate goes up normally the AWE would be the highest rate here, and if the hrs change  is an increase then the minimum AL rate to be paid is the OWP (if by chance the  AWE is higher than that would  be paid ).

Note the annual leave is still paid in hours ,there was no overtime or additional hours worked -hours worked are as per contract that was applicable at the time .

So, my question is that should the annual leave rate for the attached be :-

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A: AWE must be divided by 52 as per the act and not hours because if hours are used and they change it can change the value of a week to what it is now whereas the standard divisor of 52 gives an average for a week over the 12 months of earnings.

So this is the right way for AWE to be applied: Gross taxable earnings $53,238.59/52 weeks/20 contracted weekly hrs = AWE 51.19 ( highest rate). Which I believe is correct , no secondary rate applies here? ( as system has updated new contract hours & weeks of leave each time contract has changed.)