Minimum sick leave entitlement to increase to 10 days
Parliament has passed the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill to increase the minimum employee sick leave entitlement from 5 days to 10 days per year.
Most employees who have worked for an employer for six months or over are entitled to sick leave if they, or a dependent, are sick or injured. Currently, employees are entitled to 5 days of sick leave per year; however, from 24 July 2021 this will increase to 10 days per year.
Employees will get the extra five days when they reach their next entitlement date – either after reaching 6 months’ employment or on their sick leave entitlement anniversary (12 months after they were last entitled to sick leave).
Employees who already get 10 or more sick days a year will not be affected by this change.
The maximum amount of unused sick leave that an employee can be entitled to will remain 20 days.
Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill – New Zealand Legislation (external link)
