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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Miscellaneous provisions

72A: Eligibility criteria based on average hours of work and allowing for periods of authorised leave

You could also call this:

“How time off work counts towards your work hours for parental leave”

You are considered to be working for your employer even when you’re not actually at work in certain situations. This includes when you’re on paid leave, unpaid leave that your employer agrees to, or receiving weekly payments for an injury under the Accident Compensation Act 2001. It also applies if you’re on volunteer leave, if you’re pregnant and on primary carer leave before your baby is due, or if a Labour Inspector decides your absence doesn’t disrupt your usual work pattern.

When figuring out how many hours you would normally work, your employer will look at what your employment agreement says. If you’ve been on unpaid leave for more than a year, they’ll look at how many hours you worked before that leave started.

In this law, a ‘week’ means your regular working week.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM121773.

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“Your work contract can give you more holiday pay during parental leave”

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72B: Succession to spouse's or partner's entitlements, or

“Taking over your partner's parental leave and payments if they can't use them”

Part 8 Miscellaneous provisions

72AEligibility criteria based on average hours of work and allowing for periods of authorised leave

  1. Repealed

  2. An employee is treated as being in the employment of an employer for an hour, despite being absent from work, if the employee would normally have been at work for that employer for that hour but is—

  3. absent on leave with pay for that hour; or
    1. on leave without pay (other than parental leave) with the employer's agreement for that hour; or
      1. entitled to a payment of weekly compensation under the Accident Compensation Act 2001 for that hour; or
        1. on volunteers leave (within the meaning of the Volunteers Employment Protection Act 1973) for that hour; or
          1. a pregnant employee who is on primary carer leave before the expected date of delivery of the child for that hour (except in a case to which section 6 refers); or
            1. absent because of any other circumstances that are considered by a Labour Inspector not to disrupt the normal pattern of the employee's employment.

              1. The hours that the employee would normally have been at work must be calculated—

              2. in accordance with the terms of the employee's employment; or
                1. by reference to the employee's hours of work before any period of leave without pay began, in the case of a period of leave without pay that started longer than 12 months ago.

                  1. Week means the employee's ordinary working week.

                  Notes
                  • Section 72A: inserted, on , by section 20 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 7).
                  • Section 72A(1): repealed, on , by section 77(1) of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).
                  • Section 72A(2)(c): amended on , pursuant to section 5(1)(b) of the Accident Compensation Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 1).
                  • Section 72A(2)(d): substituted, on , by section 15 of the Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 12).
                  • Section 72A(2)(e): amended, on , by section 77(2) of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).