‘Big sick’ and Covid hitting leave balances

The number of people off sick for more than a week almost doubled in the three months to the end of June, according to Stats NZ.

About 55,000 people cited illness as the reason for being off work for a week during the last quarter, following a similar trend reported for the March quarter.

Food manufacturing and packaging plant Hansells Masterton was operating at 80% capacity and running behind on some orders due to staff absences, said chairperson Alan Stewart.

‘‘We have all the time people away, either from Covid or from the flu. We’ve got lines that can’t operate.’’

While the Government doubled minimum statutory sick leave from five days to 10 in July 2021, many staff had already used it all, Stewart said. Where people had completely run out, the company worked with them on other options, including using holiday leave or taking unpaid time off.

The situation was ‘‘dire and depressing,’’ said Matt McLaughlin of Hoff Hospitality. A business owner for 20 years, he said an unprecedented staff shortage was being compounded by sickness.

Across his three Wellington venues, McLaughlin said one kitchen was ‘‘closed completely’’ while two others were operating on reduced hours, which had cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

This was partly to avoid putting too much pressure on the staff to prevent people leaving the industry entirely, he said. Alternative leave options were worked out on a ‘‘case by case basis’’.

Hospitality NZ board member Jeremy Smith said most businesses were using a combination of annual leave and negative leave, acting on the understanding that employees would remain with them for a while and could earn the sick leave in the future.

Small to medium businesses were being hit the hardest and were especially prone to instability from Covid, said Blair Scotland, a partner at Dundas Street Employment Lawyers.

Even with no money coming in, businesses still had outgoings – and for some, now having to pay double the sick leave put them under added strain. Larger companies, however, had the ‘‘luxury’’ of more staff cover and more money.

Public Service Association assistant secretary Alex Davies said some employers had taken an ‘‘unduly punitive approach’’ to sick leave during Covid.