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Sick leave
If your staff members are sick, encourage them to stay home. Not only will it give them a chance to rest and recover, but it will help stop others in your team from getting sick. In the long run, it’ll keep your business more productive.
What you need to know
After an employee has been working for you for 6 months, they're legally entitled to at least 10 days' paid sick leave a year.
You must:
- allow for employees to accumulate up to 20 days of sick leave. This means employees can carry over 10 days of unused sick leave into the next year
- allow employees to use sick leave to care for a sick or injured spouse, partner, dependent child or any other dependent individual
- pay a sick employee what they’d get if they’d worked a normal day, including bonuses, overtime etc.
You can:
- let employees who’ve worked for you for less than six months take sick leave in advance
- choose to let employees carry over extra sick leave, beyond the 20 day requirement from year to year
- offer more than 10 days of paid sick leave a year.
Every employee would be entitled to 10 days’ sick leave each year (if they qualify) regardless of working pattern.
Sick leave(external link) - Employment New Zealand
Case study
Too soon for sick leave
Steve has been working at Toni’s Hair Salon for five weeks when he catches the mumps. He can’t come to work but isn’t yet eligible for sick leave.
If an employee is injured
If it's at work, your employee doesn't need to take sick leave. Once the accident is registered and acknowledged by ACC you must pay your injured employee at least 80% of their normal wages for the first week off work.
If they are injured somewhere other than work, they can choose to take sick leave for the first week they’re off work. They can also choose to take annual leave or leave without pay.
After the first week, ACC will pay them 80% of their usual salary while off work. Injured employees can ask you to pay them one day's sick leave each week if they want to and they have the sick leave available. You have no other obligation to pay them while they’re on ACC. However if your employee returns to work on part-time duties, you may need to make a contribution towards their salary.
Sick leave and ACC(external link) - Employment New Zealand
Asking for doctor’s certificates
You can ask for one of these:
- after an employee has been sick or injured for three consecutive days
- before they've been sick or injured for three consecutive days, but only if you cover the cost of getting the certificate.
Your employee can choose which doctor they'd like to see.
If they can't provide a doctor's certificate or other proof that they're really sick, you don't have to pay them for their sick leave.
If you have questions about holidays and leave, contact Employment New Zealand.
Contact us(external link) — Employment New Zealand
