Government may cut sick leave entitlements

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon . File photo

The government is not ruling out changing the amount of sick leave workers get, hinting at possible cuts for part-time staff.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked during an interview with Morning Report whether his government was looking at reducing the number of leave days from 10 to five.

"That's something that I know [Workplace Relations and Safety Minister] Brooke van Velden is looking into. She looks at a whole raft of workplace relations," Luxon replied.

"It's a bit premature for now."

Currently, all workers, full-time, part-time or casual are entitled to 10 days of sick leave if they have been with their employer continuously for six months, and have worked an average 10 hours a week, and at least one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.

Workers can accumulate up to 20 days of sick leave, which means it is possible to carry over 10 days of unused sick leave into the next year.

"There is probably a need for us to look at it, for sure, and just make sure that we've got that setting right, particularly around proportionate sick leave for part-time workers versus full-time workers," Luxon said.

"Brooke is looking at a package of things around workplace relations, as you've seen already this year, and she will continue to look at that."

Luxon told Newstalk ZB some changes were coming though on workplace relations and there was likely to be an announcement on sick leave, but he did not say when.

National promised during the last election campaign it would not reduce the number of sick days employees receive.

The number of sick days was increased from five to 10 by the previous Labour government in 2021, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

National wasn't supportive of the changes at the time.

Van Velden has been working on a draft bill that could make sick leave entitlements proportional to the hours someone works.

She said changes in the draft bill could include pro-rating sick leave "to better reflect how much an employee works".

"Workplaces that rely on part-time workers are particularly vulnerable to unexpected staffing shortages. To explore this issue further, the exposure draft set for consultation will include a proposed approach to pro-rating sick leave, to better reflect how much an employee works," she said last year.