17 October 2024
GB
[FYI request #28324 email]
Tēnā koe GB,
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00064187
Thank you for your email on 9 September 2024, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
(Health NZ) for the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
We are stil waiting for the payment that is owed to us, eight years after issues with holiday
pay were identified in 2016 due to problems with the Holidays Act.
1. Could you please explain the reason for the delay in a way that a regular person can
understand.
2.
Are the funds available, or is there a delay in receiving the funds that is causing the
payment delay?
3. What is the exact date when payments wil start?
Yours faithfully,
An employee
Response
Anyone that worked for Health NZ, one of the former District Health Boards (DHBs),
healthAl iance, New Zealand Health Partnerships, HealthSource or Northern Regional Al iance
at any time since 1 May 2010, may have been paid incorrectly for their leave. Health NZ is
committed to addressing these issues to ensure that current and former staff receive their
correct leave entitlements.
Could you please explain the reason for the delay in a way that a regular person can
understand.
When Health NZ was established, it inherited 20 separate payrolls. Each payroll was set up
differently, with dif erent practices and local arrangements in place, and a majority were no
longer suited for modern payroll requirements. Health NZ is working with each district’s project
team to ensure that the scale of work is clear, resources are engaged, and activities are
completed. The complexities of the Holidays Act, the size of the workforce, the hours people
work and the variety of the employment arrangements, as wel as the state of the payrol
systems and processes, all make this a very challenging programme of work.
Project teams around the country are working hard to remediate payments to employees on
each of these payrolls. Before payments can be approved, each project team needs to
complete a rigorous series of checks and testing, to ensure that any remediation payments will
be correctly calculated and leave entitlements wil be correct in the future. The complexities of
the Holidays Act, the size of our workforce, the hours people work and the variety of the
employment arrangements, as well as the state of the payroll systems and processes, all
make this a huge and complex project requiring specialist skil s. Health NZ appreciates our
current and former employees’ patience as we progress with this significant programme of
work.
Are the funds available, or is there a delay in receiving the funds that is causing the payment
delay?
The Government provides the funding for Holidays Act remediation payments once each
project has completed the national assurance framework and this process been confirmed by
the Ministry of Health and Treasury.
What is the exact date when payments wil start?
As agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding with unions and the Labour Inspectorate in
2020, we are paying current employees in each payroll first, then former employees.
So far, payments have been made to current Auckland district staff in late 2023, with further
projects due to be completed in the coming months. We plan to complete Holidays Act
Remediation payments to our current employees in 2024/25.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your
name and contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Andrew Slater
Chief People Officer
People and Communications
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
