14/01/2025
Erika Whittome
[FYI request #29413 email]
Tēnā koe Erika
OIA: 1340830 – Notice period for teachers terminated for being unvaccinated
Thank you for your email of 2 December 2024 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) requesting
the following:
1. Please share the information sent to Tapawera School on notice pay in 2021 for
terminating employment due to vaccination status.
Specifically, I request the email from Callum Brooker, Employment Relations Advisor on
or around 21 December 2021 which goes something like.... "The Ministry's advice to
schools is that upon notice of termination, the teacher should be paid two months of
regular salary, and their entitled holiday pay on top of this."
2. I assume there was written advice for schools on education staff who were
unvaccinated and the required notice period for pay. Please would you share this
written advice as well from Dec 2021 until Feb 2022.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), and numbered
for ease of reference.
Regarding
part one of your request, we have carried out a search for all emails from Callum
Brooker, sent within three days of 21 December 2021, with the keyword ‘termination’.
We did not identify any emails sent to Tapawera School. I am therefore refusing
part one of your
request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information requested does not exist, or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
With regard to
part two of your request, we have interpreted your request to be for written advice
on education staff who were unvaccinated and the required notice period for pay, provided to all
schools either through the School Leaders Bulletin or on the Ministry website.
We have identified two webpages, now archived, in scope of your request. These have been
compiled in
Appendix A:
• Managing employment processes after 15 November 2021
• Managing implications for staff impacted by the vaccination requirement.
As these are archived web pages, the links are not live. Please advise us if there is a specific page
you see linked that you are interested in and we have not provided.
There is only one relevant School Leader bulletin within the date range you’ve specified, however
we have also provided three additional earlier bulletins you may be interested in. These are
compiled in
Appendix B:
• School Leaders Bulletin 28 October 2021
• School Leaders Bulletin 11 November 2021
• School Leaders Bulletin 18 November 2021
• School Leaders Bulletin 7 December 2021.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision
on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Stephanie Ramirez
Group Manager
Te Mahau | Te Pae Aronui
OIA: 1340830
