Leave Arrears - Q&A’s

The issues relate to entitlements under the Holidays Act 2003 and primarily impacts employees who work variable and unpredictable work patterns or work above their contracted hours. In some but not all cases, these employees have not received correct payments and leave arrears back pay may be due. Leave arrears calculations date back to October 2010.

The Holidays Act legislation is complex with varying rules and calculations for different leave types. This issue is not isolated to Dominion and is a wide issue affecting many employers across NZ.

The issue relates to a number of past and current employees, employed between October 2010 to June 2017.

Affected employees (past and present) will receive a letter from us with information about their leave arrears payment and how they can have it paid. Not all employees who worked during this period are affected, as their holiday pay was calculated at the correct or higher rate.

For past employees, we are using the last known contact details we had for them when they left the business. If you believe you are eligible and have not been contacted, please complete the online claim form or call us on the number provided on this page.

The letter you receive will provide details of when your payment will be made. Your leave arrears payment will be made into the bank account that your salary or wages are paid into.

Past employees will be paid as soon as possible upon receipt of a completed claim form and necessary documentation. Depending on claim volumes it may take several weeks to process your claim.

We appreciate that it has taken time to determine and process the leave arrears payments. We have had 7 years of records to evaluate and our focus has been on ensuring the leave arrears payment calculations are accurate for each team member. We engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to perform the calculation and other third parties to verify these, as well as working closely with a MBIE Labour Inspectorate.

Yes, current employees will receive a payslip available on TimeFiler once the payment is made, consistent with how all payslips are delivered.

Past employees will have a payslip emailed or mailed (as advised by you) to their nominated email or mailing address upon payment of their leave arrears payment.

The calculation of leave arrears payments is complex involving a large amount of data, and as such detailed calculation break downs will not be provided with the letter detailing the amount of your leave arrears payment. However, if you wish to obtain a detailed statement of your calculation this can certainly be arranged on request.

Current employees do not need to provide any documentation as we already have your current bank account, KiwiSaver and taxation details.

Past employees will need to lodge a claim form, which can be lodged immediately online. The following documentation is required to be uploaded to complete your claim:

• Proof of identity: copy of birth certificate, passport, certificate of citizenship, immigration NZ visa, drivers license or 18+ card, please note if your identity document has two sides both sides must be provided;
• Tax code and IRD number: a signed Tax Code Declaration Form (IR330); and
• if contributing to KiwiSaver a signed IRD KiwiSaver Deduction Form (KS2)

The claim form and lodging of these documents can be completed electronically via the online claim form. Otherwise a claim can be lodged by email by downloading the PDF form, printing it, completing it and scanning or photographing the completed form along with the above supporting documents.

No, current employees do not need to complete a claim form we already have all your current details on file. We will automatically process your leave arrears payment into the bank account that your ordinary salary or wage is deposited to.

To ensure you receive the money owed to you we must obtain proof of identify. Information relating to your KiwiSaver fund, taxation and bank account details are needed to be able to process your payment.

Your documentation will be reviewed and verified by our Payroll team. Once we have confirmed your claim and documentation is in order we will process your leave arrears payment to your nominated back account as soon as possible. A payslip detailing the payment made to you as well as any KiwiSaver contributions will be provided via email or mail.

Please make a claim either online, via email or call us on the number provided on this page for assistance.

To ensure we pay the money owed to the appropriate people we are required to verify your identity and confirm that you are authorised to act on behalf of the estate or team member.

If you believe you may be entitled to a leave arrears payment on behalf of an estate or a team member whom which you hold power of attorney, please call us so we can work with you to confirm your eligibility to a leave arrears payment and process the payment for you.

Current employees will have KiwiSaver contributions on their leave arrears payment based on your contribution set up already provided to us.

Past employees are required to provide their KiwiSaver details and nominate their contribution percentage to Dominion and this will be deducted from your leave arrears payments and paid to your KiwiSaver fund. Past employees that are not KiwiSaver members will not be automatically enrolled.

Should no KiwiSaver nomination be made, no contributions will be made and the payment made to you will not have KiwiSaver contributions deducted.

Yes, should you make a contribution from your leave arrears payment, Dominion will also contribute 3% to your KiwiSaver fund. Dominion’s contribution is an added benefit above your leave arrears payment and will only be paid for those employees that make a contribution to KiwiSaver.

Example: an employee elects to have 3% of their payment contributed to KiwiSaver, Dominion will contribute 3% (less ESCT) to the employees’ KiwiSaver.