A select committee majority has greenlit New Zealand's landmark overhaul of its workplace leave framework

On 13 July 2026, the Education and Workforce Select Committee (Committee) reported back on the Employment Leave Bill (Bill), recommending by a majority that it be passed.

The Committee has not sought to fundamentally restructure the Bill. Its amendments focus on workability and targeted refinements. Notable changes include:

• tightening notional roster requirements to better reflect employees' actual working patterns
• closing a gap in the "otherwise working day" (OWD) test that would have reduced public holiday entitlements for some employees
• strengthening employer obligations under the remediation framework for historic Holidays Act 2003 (Act) liabilities.

To recap, the Bill proposes to repeal and replace the Act with a new Employment Leave Act. Key components of the Bill (which are unchanged by the Report) include:

• an hours-based accrual framework
• three categories of working hours (standard, additional, and casual hours)
• a single hourly leave payment rate
• a leave compensation payment (LCP) of 12.5% to be paid for all additional and casual hours (as opposed to accruing leave on those hours)
• an optional remediation framework for Act liabilities.

Key differences between the original Bill and the Report's recommendations

	The Bill as introduced	The Bill as per the Report
Notional rosters	Notional rosters required where an employment agreement does not specify all...

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