Hawke’s Bay health staff receive $10m in overdue holiday pay

Kerri Nuku - New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) kaiwhakahaere - said the payments were long overdue.

More than 2000 Hawke’s Bay health workers have been paid their share of nearly $10 million in historical holiday pay and leave entitlements.

One health union says the payments are long overdue.

Last week, Health NZ paid roughly $9.6 million to more than 2100 current employees in Hawke’s Bay (an average of $4571 each), and $1m to more than 600 current employees in South Canterbury as part of its Holidays Act remediation programme.

The programme spans 24 payrolls, affecting about 90,000 current and 130,000 former employees.

Not everyone is eligible for a payment, as some were paid correctly at the time.

The programme is the result of work undertaken by the Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in 2016 which identified issues with District Health Board (now Health NZ Te Whatu Ora) payroll systems and their compliance with the Holidays Act.

These meant that some employees weren’t receiving their correct leave entitlements.

Other organisations, such as Police, discovered similar non-compliance with the act.

Health NZ has since gone through a lengthy and complex process to repay staff and to fix payroll systems, with each region paid at different times because of having different systems.

Last week’s payment brings the total to $663 million paid to current and former Health NZ staff so far.

Kerri Nuku, New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) president and kaiwhakahaere, said the payments were long overdue.

“Nurses have been frustrated by the years-long delays in getting paid what they are owed. Paying staff correctly for the work they perform is a minimum expectation of any employer.

“NZNO continues to work on issues with [Health NZ] such as how to ensure members who work in multiple roles receive their correct entitlement.”

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.