NZ Payroll - Public Holiday Payments Maintenance

Under New Zealand employment legislation payees who do not work on a scheduled work day due to a public holiday are eligible to receive a public holiday payment. A payee may also be eligible for a public holiday payment even if the payee was not scheduled to work on a public holiday but the payee worked a certain number of public holidays within a certain period prior to the current public holiday. 

A public holiday payment can be triggered in the following ways within the FastTrack360 system:

• a specific public holiday absence type can be selected on a payee's timesheet

• at the Public Holiday stage of a pay batch.

The former method relies on the configuration of a pay agreement in the Rates and Rules module such that the absence type that is selected on a timesheet will be paid at the relevant public holiday rate. The results of interpreting the absence item against the pay agreement are included at the Manual Items stage of the pay batch process.

The latter method facilitates making public holiday payments to individuals who are subject to any of the following conditions:

• are active payees who were not placed in a job at the time of the public holiday

• were placed in a job at the time of the public holiday and are normally scheduled to work on the day on which the public holiday fell but did not work due to the public holiday 

• did not submit an approved leave request for the date of the public holiday

• did not key in an absence on their timesheets for the date of the public holiday.

Whether a payee is eligible to receive a public holiday payment at the Public Holiday pay batch stage, and the rate of payment, is determined based on the Public Holiday Payments that are configured under Portal > Pay New Zealand > Maintenance > Public Holiday Payments. The Public Holiday Payments are sets of rules that must be configured prior to running a pay batch. Otherwise, no payments can be triggered at the Public Holiday pay batch stage.

Each Public Holiday Payments record consists of the following components:

• a record header

• a payee worked rule

• an eligibility rule

• an hour rule

• a rate rule.

The payee worked, eligibility, hour and rate rules are subject to a validity period so that different rules can be applied depending on the pay period end date of a pay batch. Each of these components are described below.

Record Header

The record header defines the following:

• a unique name for the set of rules

• the date range during which the set of rules are applicable

• the pay code against which the public holiday payment will be made if the set of rules apply

• the holiday types to which the set of rules apply (e.g. Christmas Day, Good Friday)

• the employment types to which the set of rules apply (e.g. Blue Collar Temp)

• any payee conditional variables that determine if the payment applies to specific payees based on the payees meeting certain criteria (e.g. Age, Pay Grade).

Payee Worked Rule

The payee worked rule defines one or more pay codes and/or pay code types that the system will look for on the date of a public holiday to determine if a payee worked on the public holiday and is therefore ineligible for a public holiday payment. For example, if a pay code called PH Normal is selected, the public holiday payment will not apply to any payee who had any time attributed against the PH Normal  pay code on the date of the public holiday.

If a payee is deemed to have worked on a public holiday, the system will not check for or apply the eligibility rule or the hour rule that is defined on the Public Holiday Payment record because the payee will be deemed ineligible for a holiday payment. If a payee works on a public holiday, they will be paid for the hours they have worked as part of the normal pay process, at the relevant public holiday rate that is defined by the applicable pay agreement.

Eligibility Rule

The eligibility rule determines if a payee is eligible for a paid day off on a public holiday. There are two eligibility types for this rule as follows:

• Payee Schedule - a payee will be eligible for payment if their payee schedule shows that they have made themselves available for work on the day of the public holiday.

• Number of Days Worked - a payee will be eligible for payment if they have worked a certain number of public holidays over a certain number of weeks.

If the eligibility rule is based on the number of public holiday days worked, it is necessary to select one or more pay codes and/or pay code groups that the system will use to determine that a payee worked a prior public holiday. Each individual date on which a payee's attendance is attributed to the pay codes/pay code types defined by this rule counts as one instance of work on a prior public holiday.

Hour Rule

 If a payee is eligible for a paid day off on a public holiday, the hour rule determines the number of hours for which a payee will be paid. There are several hour rule types as follows:

• Job Schedule - the system uses the number of hours a payee is schedule to work on the day of the public holiday, according to the job schedule of the job order to which the payee is assigned. If the job schedule has no hours scheduled for the corresponding day, no payment will be made.

• Payee Schedule - the system uses the number of hours a payee is scheduled to work on the day of the public holiday, according to their personal payee schedule. If the payee schedule has no scheduled hours for the corresponding day, no payment will be made.

• Average Hours - the system uses the average number of hours that the payee has worked per day over a specified period (days or pay periods). 

• Fixed Hours - the system uses a fixed number of hours that you specify. For example, a fixed hour value of 8 means that a payee will be paid the equivalent of eight hours for the public holiday.

If the Average Hours rule type is used the calculation of the average hours can be based on all hours a payee has worked during the specified period or only those hours that occurred on days that were public holidays. The latter method allows for situations where, for example, a payee is eligible to receive a public holiday payment only if they have worked a certain number of prior public holidays. It is also necessary to select one or more pay codes and/or pay code groups that the system will use to determine that a payee has worked on a given day. Each individual date on which a payee's attendance is attributed to the pay codes/pay code types defined by this rule counts as a day on which the payee worked.

Rate Rule

The rate rule determines the rate at which this public holiday payment will be paid. The following rate rule types can be applied:

• Payee Rate - the system will pay the public holiday payment at a rate equal to the payee pay rate, as defined by the Employment/Payslip Details on each Payee record.

• Average Rate - the system will pay the public holiday payment at a rate equal to the payee's average rate of pay for a specific period prior to the public holiday (number of days or pay periods) across a selection of pay codes and/or pay code types and across a selection of days of the week.

If the Average Rate rule is used, it is necessary to select one or more pay codes and/or pay code groups that the system will use to determine which pay items are to be included in the average pay rate calculation. You must also select the days of the week on which the pay items must have occurred if they are to be included in the average pay rate calculation. For example, it is possible to configure the rule so that any overtime worked on weekends is not included in the average rate calculation.

Configuration Required Before Creating Public Holiday Payment Rules

The public holiday payment rules configuration uses a number of other maintenance items that must be configured prior to attempting to configure public holiday payments. The maintenance items are:

• pay codes for holiday payments (Rates and Rules module)

• holiday types (Rates and Rules module)

• employment types (Pay module)

• payee conditional variables (Portal Maintenance module).