New Zealand employment terms, defined plainly
8 terms that decide what a day of work is actually worth in New Zealand. Each is defined in a sentence, then explained properly — including the parts that are commonly assumed and are not true.
These are deliberately New Zealand terms. Much of the wider RosterElf site covers Australian awards and Fair Work, which is a different system with different vocabulary.
Leave & public holidays
The Holidays Act vocabulary that decides what a day is worth.
Alternative holiday
A whole paid day off earned by working a public holiday — and a liability, not a rate.
Read the definitionOtherwise working day
The test behind public holiday pay, alternative days and most leave payments.
Read the definitionOrdinary weekly pay
Annual holidays are paid at the greater of this and average weekly earnings.
Read the definitionRelevant daily pay
The daily basis for BAPS leave — bereavement, alternative, public holidays and sick.
Read the definitionHours & agreements
What the employment agreement has to say about when people work.
Records & payroll
What you must keep, and what you must file.
Looking for the arithmetic?
The glossary defines the terms. The free NZ tools do the sums — annual holiday pay at the greater of the two rates, a minimum wage check, and roster cost in NZD — and the timesheet templates produce the record you have to keep.
Browse the free toolsBuilt for New Zealand shift-based teams
Rosters, clocking in, leave and payroll export in one platform — with public holiday rates and alternative holidays recorded as they are earned.
Questions about the NZ glossary
- Because the systems are different. The main glossary covers Australian modern awards, Fair Work and superannuation. New Zealand has none of those — pay and conditions come from the Minimum Wage Act, the Holidays Act 2003, the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the employment agreement. Mixing them would mislead readers in both markets.
- No. There is no award system here. Statute sets the floor and the employment agreement sets everything above it, which is why terms like agreed hours and availability provision do the work that an award does in Australia.
- The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act 2003 on 6 August 2028, moving annual leave from a weeks-based entitlement to hours-based accrual from day one, with a revised otherwise-working-day test. The definitions here describe the rules as they stand now.
- No. They are general explanations to help you ask the right questions. Entitlements depend on the employment agreement and the individual circumstances — check Employment New Zealand or take advice for a specific case.