Celebrating Matariki
The first Matariki public holiday is coming up on Friday 24th June 2022.
This holiday has been established to ensure mātauranga Maori is at the heart of celebrations of the Matariki public holiday. The rising of the star cluster known as Matariki signals the Māori New Year and it will be a time for Rememberance, Celebrating the present and Looking to the future.
As an employer, you need to be mindful of the following things for your employees on Matariki:
Matariki is a standard national public holiday, and the normal public holiday rules will apply.
An employee has to work on a public holiday only if it is written into their employment contract, and it is a day they would normally work. If this is not the case, the employer may ask an employee to work on the public holiday, but they do not need to agree, and there should not be any consequences because of this. It is important for employers to respect an employee’s decision.'
The Matariki holiday will not always fall on the same date each year, just like Easter holidays. It will, however, always fall on a Friday.
Employees who work over the Matariki public holiday must:
be paid at least time and a half
if the Friday is a normal working day for them, be given a paid day off (also called a day in lieu, or an ‘alternative holiday’) at a date agreed by both parties.
Employees who are eligible for a day in lieu must be given a full day off no matter how many hours they worked on the public holiday.
They are not entitled to a day in lieu if:they only work on public holidays
they were on call but didn't have to work, and being on call did not stop them doing what they wanted to do with their day (for example, a doctor on call is not able to drink).
Content sourced from: https://www.employment.govt.nz/about/news-and-updates/new-zealand-celebrates-first-matariki-public-holiday/
