Our German Desk
This year ANZAC Day falls on a Saturday. Thanks to amendments to the Holidays Act 2003, this means the public holiday is ‘Mondayised’.
The term ‘Mondayised’ sounds more intimidating than it really is. Employers shouldn’t panic: they simply need to apply the same methodology to ANZAC Day and Waitangi Day (when those days fall on a weekend) as they have been doing since 2004 for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and 2 January.
What this means is that:
- For Monday to Friday employees, the holiday is transferred and is observed on Monday 27 April.
- For an employee who would otherwise have worked Saturday 25 April (either because the employee always or frequently works on the Saturday or the employee’s roster includes that Saturday), ANZAC Day is observed on Saturday 25 April.
- For any employees who are required to work on the day that is observed as the holiday for them (either Saturday 25 April or Monday 27 April depending on the circumstances above), they will receive the relevant payment for their hours worked on that day (being a minimum of time and half), and an entitlement to a whole day’s alternative holiday.
- For an employee who would ordinarily work on both Saturday 25 April and Monday 27 April, then Saturday 25 April (i.e. ANZAC Day) is the day observed as the holiday.
Of course, it’s not always that easy to tell when an employee would otherwise have worked. If you have a tricky situation, or your rosters make for anomalies, feel free to give us a call.
