Contractors, shift workers are being left out in the cold
Daylight saving and Easter meant chocolate and a sleep-in for some, while for contractors it meant spending the weekend crying over not properly recording the last year’s business expenses.
While I kicked myself over failing to account for my student loan and ACC levies this past financial year, National MP Erica Stanford was ringing on Easter Sunday to say I had royally misrepresented her property interests in last week’s column. What would Jesus do in this situation, I wonder?
To clarify, the Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests says she owns a family home — in kura. It also states she has an interest in a family home in kura, and a holiday home in Whangamata. The last two are owned by her parents’ family trust. The register also says she’s a beneficiary in the Poppelbaum Family Trust.
While it may have been helpful had she replied to my email before publication, she informed me after the fact that the Poppelbaum Family Trust was the “parents’ family trust” the register referred to. It’s a case of not owning three properties now, but this may be the case in future, in other words. Glad we could clear that up!
Easter Tuesday?
Come Tuesday, parents and caregivers the world over were scrambling to find childcare while the kids stayed home because of littleknown school holiday “Easter Tuesday”. It’s not a statutory holiday, which means adults have to work. While it usually falls on the first term break, it didn’t in 1997, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2016, 2018, and again this year. The holiday is prescribed in the Education Act 1989, which reads: “every board¯O must ensure that every school it administers is closed on Saturdays,¯O Sundays, New Year’s Day, January 2, Waitangi Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, Anzac Day, the Sovereign’s
birthday, Labour Day, Christmas Day, [and] Boxing Day”.
It is not a registered public holiday under the Holidays Act 2003, which explains why parents had to go to work.
It’s an example of where parenting and working don’t align. Speaking of which, I’ve never understood why school traditionally finishes about 3pm — leaving working parents at a disadvantage and out of pocket for two hours a day, five days a week.
What’s happening with Matariki?
There’s forever that painful stretch between Queen’s Birthday weekend (June 7) and Labour Day (October 25), but next year Nga¯ Mata o te Ariki, more commonly known as Matariki, will be celebrated on Friday, June 24, making that stretch a little easier to stomach.
Matariki changes from year to year thus a Matariki Advisory Group was formed to ensure that Ma¯tauranga Ma¯ori was at the forefront of the date decision-making. The group consisted of Professor Rangia¯nehu Matamua, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, Rereata Makiha, Victoria Campbell, Dr Pauline Harris, Dr Ruakere Hond, and Jack Thatcher. Legislation is expected to be introduced this year to amend the Holidays Act allowing for the additional holiday, but when that will be is still to be determined.
Legal loophole leaving contractors out in the cold
From an employment perspective, while it’s all very exciting for those who work Monday to Friday, contractors, and those who work shifts are often left out in the cold.
The Holidays Act requires employees who would otherwise work on public holidays to get time and a half and a day in lieu, or they get the day off. Employers otherwise have no obligation to give contractors or shift workers that benefit — if anything they’re incentivised not to make considerations for contractors and shift workers.
The loophole seems inconsistent to the Holidays Act’s purpose, which reads: “this Act is to promote balance between work and other aspects of employees’ lives and, to that end, to provide employees with minimum entitlements to annual holidays to provide the opportunity for rest and recreation”.
According to 2020 Statistics NZ survey results, two-thirds of employees had worked outside the Monday-Friday 7am-7pm standard hours at least once in a four-week period. What does this mean in reality?
As flexible-working and the four-day week gains momentum, we should be pushing for a pro-rata policy based on the number of days people work, irrespective of their contract.