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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Payment for parental leave - Amount of parental leave payment

71N: Annual adjustment of parental leave payment rates

You could also call this:

“The law changes how much money parents get for leave each year”

The law says that the amount of money you can get for parental leave will change each year. This change happens on July 1st. The amount will go up by the same percentage as the increase in average weekly pay for workers in New Zealand.

To figure out how much the payment will increase, the government looks at how much average weekly pay has gone up in the year before July 1st. They use information from a survey called the Quarterly Employment Survey.

If average weekly pay goes down instead of up, the parental leave payment won’t change that year. The next time it changes, they’ll look at how much pay has gone up since the last time the payment was increased.

For people who work for themselves, there’s a minimum amount they can get. This amount is based on 10 hours of work at the highest minimum wage rate.

After July 1st each year, the Minister must put the new payment rates on a government website. They also have to tell the Chief Parliamentary Counsel about the new rates.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM121724.

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71M: Amount of parental leave payment, or

“How much money you can get for parental leave”

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71O: Discretionary increases in payment amount by Order in Council, or

“The Governor-General can increase parental leave pay when the Minister suggests it”

Part 7A Payment for parental leave
Amount of parental leave payment

71NAnnual adjustment of parental leave payment rates

  1. The rates of parental leave payment that apply to eligible employees under section 71M(1)(a) and eligible self-employed persons under section 71M(1A)(a) and persons who are eligible for a parental leave payment as an employee and as a self-employed person under section 71M(1B) are adjusted, by this section, by increasing the rate by the same percentage as any percentage movement upward in average ordinary time weekly earnings as calculated under subsection (2).

  2. The adjustment required by subsection (1) is calculated as follows:

  3. the percentage movement is the annual percentage movement in the February average ordinary time weekly earnings (employees) immediately before the 1 July date on which the adjustment is to take effect, as published in the Quarterly Employment Survey; and
    1. if, in that 12-month period, there is a downward percentage movement in average ordinary time weekly earnings (employees), as published in that survey,—
      1. no adjustment takes effect under subsection (1) on the following 1 July; and
        1. an adjustment on any succeeding 1 July is the percentage movement in the February average ordinary time weekly earnings (employees) between the February series before the date of the last adjustment and the February series before the 1 July date on which the next adjustment is to take effect; and
        2. any correction to the Quarterly Employment Survey that is published after 15 May in the current year must be disregarded until the adjustment that takes effect on 1 July in the following year.

          1. In subsection (2), Quarterly Employment Survey means the Quarterly Employment Survey published by Statistics New Zealand or, if that survey ceases to be published, any measure certified by the Government Statistician as being equivalent to that survey.

          2. The minimum rate of parental leave payment that applies to self-employed persons under section 71M(1A)(b)(ii) is adjusted, by this section, as at 1 July each year, as a weekly amount that is equivalent to 10 hours' work at the highest rate of the minimum wage that applies under the Minimum Wage Act 1983 at that date.

          3. The Minister must, as soon as practicable after 1 July each year,—

          4. publish the adjusted rates for employees and self-employed persons on an Internet site maintained by or on behalf of the department; and
            1. advise the Chief Parliamentary Counsel of those rates.

              Notes
              • Section 71N: replaced, on , by section 70 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).
              • Section 71N(1): amended, on , by section 12(1) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).
              • Section 71N(2): amended, on , by section 12(2) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).
              • Section 71N(2)(a): amended, on , by section 12(3) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).
              • Section 71N(2)(b)(ii): amended, on , by section 12(4) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).
              • Section 71N(4): amended, on , by section 12(5) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).
              • Section 71N(5): replaced, on , by section 12(6) of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).