An important part of the Holidays Act 2003 is the introduction of an Employee Leave Profile. This is the facility to agree, normally in a valid Employment Agreement, what the normal days worked, and hours worked each day, are for the employee.

This agreement

When paying most leave types, Ace Payroll automatically senses the existence of an Employee Leave Profile.

If a Leave Profile does not exist for the employee, the following screen is shown

To create a Leave Profile for the employee, click Enter A Leave Profile from the above screen.

A Leave Profile can also be entered or modified from Employee / Modify Employee Details / Leave

Enter the number of hours the employee normally works against the days normally worked.

Remember what you enter is only valid if agreed to by your employee, generally as a clause in an Employment Agreement.

If the employee does not have a regular work pattern, simply click Works Irregular Hours. This tells Ace Payroll that the employee does not have a leave profile.

You can also define the Provincial Anniversary Day observed by the employee. Click the relevant item, and select from all the New Zealand Anniversary days shown.

For many employers, all staff observe the same provincial anniversary date, so it makes sense to have a company wide default setting. Instructions for doing this are documented in Default Provincial Anniversary Day.

There are 26 possible public holidays in New Zealand.

Section 43 entitles an employee to 11 of them.

By entering an Employee Leave Profile, the Ace Payroll software is able to determine with certainty which 11 of the possible 26 days relate to a specific employee.

Fixed Days

The following six days are always observed on the day they fall - Waitangi Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queen's Birthday and Labour Day.

Movable Days

An employee is entitled to two public holiday days at Christmas, and another two days for New Year.

Section 45 provides four possibilities for the two days at Christmas, and another four possibilities for the two days at New Year.

Based on the employee work pattern, the four possibilities for the two days at Christmas are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and the 27th and 28th of December.

Similarly the four possibilities for the two days at New Year are New Years Day, and the three days after New Years Day.

For an employee who works regular days, Ace Payroll automatically senses the relevant two days for each of these periods, if an Employee Leave Profile is entered.

Anniversary Day

As well as the above ten days, every employee is entitled to take one Anniversary Day. This day can be one of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Nelson, Marlborough, Southland, South Canterbury, West Coast and Chatham Island.

The relevant day is also sensed from the Employee Leave Profile.