Rules for work at Christmas
While the bulk of the country are at the beach, some workers will be minding the shop this Christmas period.
Katherine Richards, a checkout manager at a Countdown in Taranaki, said the holiday period could be stressful for workers as patience shortened and instances of customer aggression rose.
Some new checkout operators on her team had not worked a Christmas period before, and Richards gave them the advice to keep calm during what could often be a crazy time.
‘‘I tell them just focus on the person in front of them, not the people in the queue behind them. That can be quite overwhelming when you see all the people waiting,’’ Richards said.
Employers will also need to keep a close eye on employment law this holiday season to make sure they are not in breach of the Holidays Act.
Duncan Cotterill senior associate Alastair Espie said the first step for employers was to be clear on whether the business would slow down but remain open, or fully close down.
A close down period was a legal term for when a business shuts down part or all operations and employees were required to take annual leave.
If a business did not close down over the Christmas period, the employer needed to do several things if they wanted to ask their employee to work on a public holiday, he said.
The employer firstly needed to make sure the employment agreement stated the employee was required to work on public holidays. The employer also needed to pay the employee time and a half for working the holiday. If the public holiday fell on a day the employee normally worked, they were also entitled to a day in lieu.
This year, Christmas Day will fall on a Sunday. Because of this, both
Boxing Day on the Monday and Christmas Day observed on Tuesday will be public holidays.
If an employee usually worked Monday to Friday, and they worked on Boxing Day and Christmas Day observed, they would get time and a half, and a day in lieu for both shifts.
But if the employee did not usually work on Monday or Tuesday, or were a casual worker with no set shifts, they would get time and a half for both shifts, but no day in lieu.
Just because it was a public holiday did not entitle the worker to a guaranteed day off, Espie said. ‘‘If the employment agreement allows the employer to require them to work on a public holiday, and the part of the business they are in is not closed down, the employee is required to work on that public holiday.
‘‘If an employee had a concern around not wanting to work Christmas, they could try to reach an agreement with their employer.’’