The Employment Leave Act 2026: what changes for your leave

Why the law is changing, and when it starts

Employment New Zealand says the new Act is designed to make leave rules easier to understand and follow. It received Royal assent on 6 August 2026 and comes into force on 6 August 2028. Changes to parental leave payments start earlier, on 1 July 2027. Employment New Zealand says you cannot follow the new rules early, even if you and your employer both agree.

Your employer switches over from your first pay period starting on or after 6 August 2028. For the first year, a term in your existing agreement that is better for you still applies, and from 6 August 2029 your agreement must comply with the Act. Some details wait on rules not yet made: the date for state school staff paid through the education payroll needs an Order in Council, and a remediation process for past Holidays Act underpayments needs regulations. Neither existed on 3 October 2026.

Annual leave counted in hours

Today you get 4 weeks' annual holidays after each 12 months, and Employment New Zealand says they are not accrued. Under section 24, you accrue at least 0.0769 of an hour of annual leave for every standard hour: the hours you can be required to work and must be paid for, plus paid breaks. The Act's own example: 37.5 standard hours a week builds 2.88375 hours of leave.

Your employer must not unreasonably refuse a request to take accrued leave, and must give you one stretch of at least 14 consecutive days off if you ask and have enough leave. You can ask in writing to cash up as much as 25% of your balance at each anniversary of your start date, instead of up to 1 week today, and your employer can say no without a reason.

Leave pay changes too. Each hour of leave is paid at least your leave hourly rate: on wages, the lowest hourly rate your agreement pays for that shift; on a salary, your salary for one standard hour. Allowances, commission and incentive payments are left out of that rate, although fixed allowances keep being paid. Unlike today, there is no comparison with your average weekly earnings.

Casual hours, and extra hours you are free to refuse and are paid separately for, do not build annual or sick leave. Instead, each pay period your employer pays a leave compensation payment of at least 12.5% of your ordinary hourly rate for each of those hours.

Sick, bereavement and family violence leave

Sick leave today is 10 days a year after six months, carried over to at most 20. Under section 73 you accrue at least 0.0385 of an hour of sick leave for every standard hour, from the start, to a balance of 160 hours unless your employer agrees to more. On a 40-hour week that is 1.54 hours a week. Proof can still be asked for once an illness lasts 3 or more consecutive calendar days, and unused sick leave is still not paid out.

Bereavement leave and family violence leave apply from your start date instead of after six months, for casual hours as well as standard hours. Bereavement leave stays at 3 days for immediate family, a miscarriage or a stillbirth, and 1 day for another death your employer accepts. Family violence leave stays at up to 10 days in each 12 months from your start date, with nothing carried over. Both can be taken in whole or part days.

Public holidays and alternative leave

The 12 public holidays are the same, and you are entitled to one when it falls on an otherwise working day. Where your agreement does not settle it, or you have worked days beyond those it lists, the Act sets a test: whether you worked, or were on leave, on 50% or more of the same weekday in the 13 weeks before. Your employer must tell you whether the test is met and how many hours you would have worked.

Work a public holiday and each hour is paid at what your agreement requires, plus at least half your ordinary hourly rate again, or your agreement's extra for that day if it is more. The bigger change is alternative leave. Today it is a full day off however many hours you worked. Under section 63 you accrue an hour of alternative leave for each hour you work on a public holiday that is an otherwise working day, and hours on call can count too. You can ask in writing to cash up any of it, and your employer must consider the request within 14 days.

What to keep a record of now

When the Act starts, your employer converts what you hold under the Holidays Act into hours. Annual holidays are converted using your ordinary weekly hours, from your agreement or your recent hours, and sick leave and alternative holidays using your average daily hours in the pay periods starting in the 93 days before your first pay period starting after 6 August 2028. If you work casual hours, the annual holidays you are owed are paid out on that day, and unused sick leave ends. Employment New Zealand's indicative timeline has guidance starting from November 2026, which may cover converting balances.

Employment New Zealand suggests keeping copies of your payslips and leave records, and raising any concern now, because problems are easier to fix before the new law starts. Note your contracted hours, the public holidays you work, the alternative days you are owed and the sick days you take. From 6 August 2028, your employer must give you a pay statement each pay period showing leave accrued, taken and paid.

Our guide to leave in New Zealand sets out every rule that applies until then. If your job ends before the switch, unused annual holidays are paid in your final pay under today's rules, and garden leave and pay in lieu of notice covers the notice period.

The Leave section of Your Career keeps the annual and sick leave balances from your latest payslip, with its date, and every day of leave you take or book. It counts under the Holidays Act, in days, and does not yet apply the new Act's rules, so its figures are a cross-check on your payslip, never a replacement.

Keep your leave on the record