Closedown Periods Christmas

December 8, 2016

Posted on: Dec 08, 2016

With Christmas only a few weeks away, we thought we’d do a brief reminder about Closedown Periods that often occur during this festive time.

A Closedown Period means “a period during which the Employer customarily closes the Employer’s operations or discontinues the work of one or more Employees and requires his or her Employees to take all or some of their annual holidays”. Closedown Periods most commonly occur over the festive Christmas and New Year period, however can be at any other time of the year depending on the circumstances of the business.

Below are some important points to note about Closedown Periods:

Businesses can only impose one Closedown Period per Employee in each year.
Employers must give at least 14 days’ notice of a Closedown and the requirement to take annual holidays or discontinue work.
Employers can require Employees to take annual holidays during a Closedown whether or not they agree to do so.
There is no maximum length of a Closedown defined by the Law.
If a Public Holiday falls during a Closedown Period then the day, if its observance falls on an “otherwise work day”, is paid for and treated as a Public Holiday.

Disclaimer

This article, and any information contained on our website is necessarily brief and general in nature, and should not be substituted for professional advice. You should always seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters addressed.

Disclaimer

Subscribe to Newsletter

Christmas is coming…

Once Labour Day has been [yes, believe it or not it’s this coming Monday], the next public holidays are at Christmas and New Year. It always feels like employers have to put a bit more thought into Christmas and New Year because: there are four public holidays; this is a time that many businesses have their annual closedown period; many employees take their annual leave; some employees don’t have enough leave to cover this period; some employment agreements have special rates for these public holidays; and, let’s face it, it is a busy busy busy time. In the next few weeks, my colleague, Tasneem Begum, and I will be offering a free webinar for those employers who want a bit more information around those tricky calculations for leave at this time of the year. We will also be able to answer the questions you have and the challenges you face with leave during the Christmas/New Year period. You are not alone with the questions you have – Questions we are often asked at this time of the year are about employing staff to cover the busy Christmas period

One of those weeks: Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

I have had one of those weeks where I have been in full day mediations virtually every day out of Auckland. What hit me at these mediations is the despair that people find themselves in by the time they arrive at my door. With varying degrees, all of these mediations had people in deep emotional turmoil. Anguish, frustration, anger and deep sadness, to the point where I had to pause to ensure the people were in the right space to make good decisions for themselves.

What the heck is going on with pay?

While we are conscious of the impact that inflation is having on wage and salary conversations, there are four other levers that have been, and are being, used to bring about fundamental change and significant uplift to pay in New Zealand. The Government is using these levers to drive increases in pay at various levels in ways that we may not be conscious of. However, when brought together as a single thread, they are having a big impact.