Latest news with #Checkpoint
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Current Sick Leave Entitlements ‘Manifestly Unfair'
An Auckland business owner says it is adding a significant burden in tough economic times. Checkpoint An Auckland business owner has described current sick leave entitlements 'manifestly unfair', adding it is a significant burden in tough economic times. In 2021 minimum paid sick leave for workers went from five to 10 days regardless of how often a person works. The government has confirmed it is changing the law to a pro-rata system, or proportional leave, where sick day allowances will be different for part and full-time workers depending on how many hours or days they work. The exact detail is yet to be decided. Kathy Aspden, who owns an entertainment business told Checkpoint her sick leave costs have increased 400 percent since the allowance doubled. 'In 2019 we had people taking 64 sick days off and that was basically about. 0.9 percent of our total wage bill. In 2025, we had 278.5 sick days and that was 2.4 percent of our total wage bill. Our costs went from $10,000 to $50,000,' she said. 'We have found that since the sick leave, entitlement has increased the number of people, the actual sick leave that's being used has increased as well.' Aspden said she supports the government push to switch to a proportional system. 'We have a lot of part time staff and having a person who works for us one day a week, being entitled to 10 days sick leave every year just doesn't feel proportionate. It basically means that they can have 20 percent of the year off sick, which doesn't happen very often to be honest. But every now and then it does get abused.' Aspden's company currently has around 50 part-time workers on its books, some working over 30 hours, others just one or two days a week. She said that due to the nature of the service industry, when one worker was off, another had to be brought in to cover, contributing to the company's costs. 'All businesses are doing it really tough at the moment and especially hospitality and entertainment businesses. We've been in the business for over 30 years now and I can't remember a time when it's been so difficult for businesses,' she said. 'All of these additional costs that we're having to fund really don't help us at all.' However, she said the reason sick leave taken by staff had increased so dramatically was hard to pinpoint. 'Since Covid people are more conscious of taking time off if they are sick and we fully encourage that the last thing we want is someone sick coming into work and making the rest of our team sick.' 'At the same time, we do have some people who are abusing it and just not really treating us fairly.' Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Checkpoint yesterday she had been looking at sick leave changes alongside ongoing work to replace the Holidays Act. She did not disclose whether the changes would be based on the days or hours people were working. But said she believed someone who worked 'what we expect to be a full week', would have the full entitlement, including someone who worked 40 hours in four days. Van Velden didn't give any evidence on how much sick leave part-timers were currently taking. 'That's not the reason behind doing this change,' she said. 'It's to do with whether it's right, and is it right that someone who is working one day a week is entitled to the same sick leave allocation as someone who works five days a week – that's what we are basing this policy on, whether it's right.'
Scoop
4 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Current Sick Leave Entitlements 'Manifestly Unfair'
An Auckland business owner has described current sick leave entitlements 'manifestly unfair', adding it is a significant burden in tough economic times. In 2021 minimum paid sick leave for workers went from five to 10 days regardless of how often a person works. The government has confirmed it is changing the law to a pro-rata system, or proportional leave, where sick day allowances will be different for part and full-time workers depending on how many hours or days they work. The exact detail is yet to be decided. Kathy Aspden, who owns an entertainment business told Checkpoint her sick leave costs have increased 400 percent since the allowance doubled. "In 2019 we had people taking 64 sick days off and that was basically about. 0.9 percent of our total wage bill. In 2025, we had 278.5 sick days and that was 2.4 percent of our total wage bill. Our costs went from $10,000 to $50,000," she said. "We have found that since the sick leave, entitlement has increased the number of people, the actual sick leave that's being used has increased as well." Aspden said she supports the government push to switch to a proportional system. "We have a lot of part time staff and having a person who works for us one day a week, being entitled to 10 days sick leave every year just doesn't feel proportionate. It basically means that they can have 20 percent of the year off sick, which doesn't happen very often to be honest. But every now and then it does get abused." Aspden's company currently has around 50 part-time workers on its books, some working over 30 hours, others just one or two days a week. She said that due to the nature of the service industry, when one worker was off, another had to be brought in to cover, contributing to the company's costs. "All businesses are doing it really tough at the moment and especially hospitality and entertainment businesses. We've been in the business for over 30 years now and I can't remember a time when it's been so difficult for businesses," she said. "All of these additional costs that we're having to fund really don't help us at all." However, she said the reason sick leave taken by staff had increased so dramatically was hard to pinpoint. "Since Covid people are more conscious of taking time off if they are sick and we fully encourage that the last thing we want is someone sick coming into work and making the rest of our team sick." "At the same time, we do have some people who are abusing it and just not really treating us fairly." Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Checkpoint yesterday she had been looking at sick leave changes alongside ongoing work to replace the Holidays Act. She did not disclose whether the changes would be based on the days or hours people were working. But said she believed someone who worked "what we expect to be a full week", would have the full entitlement, including someone who worked 40 hours in four days. Van Velden didn't give any evidence on how much sick leave part-timers were currently taking. "That's not the reason behind doing this change," she said. "It's to do with whether it's right, and is it right that someone who is working one day a week is entitled to the same sick leave allocation as someone who works five days a week - that's what we are basing this policy on, whether it's right."
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Current sick leave entitlements 'manifestly unfair'
File photo. Photo: Yiting Lin / RNZ An Auckland business owner has described current sick leave entitlements 'manifestly unfair', adding it is a significant burden in tough economic times. In 2021 minimum paid sick leave for workers went from five to 10 days regardless of how often a person works. The government has confirmed it is changing the law to a pro-rata system , or proportional leave, where sick day allowances will be different for part and full-time workers depending on how many hours or days they work. The exact detail is yet to be decided. Kathy Aspden, who owns an entertainment business told Checkpoint her sick leave costs have increased 400 percent since the allowance doubled. "In 2019 we had people taking 64 sick days off and that was basically about. 0.9 percent of our total wage bill. In 2025, we had 278.5 sick days and that was 2.4 percent of our total wage bill. Our costs went from $10,000 to $50,000," she said. "We have found that since the sick leave, entitlement has increased the number of people, the actual sick leave that's being used has increased as well." Aspden said she supports the government push to switch to a proportional system. "We have a lot of part time staff and having a person who works for us one day a week, being entitled to 10 days sick leave every year just doesn't feel proportionate. It basically means that they can have 20 percent of the year off sick, which doesn't happen very often to be honest. But every now and then it does get abused." Aspden's company currently has around 50 part-time workers on its books, some working over 30 hours, others just one or two days a week. She said that due to the nature of the service industry, when one worker was off, another had to be brought in to cover, contributing to the company's costs. "All businesses are doing it really tough at the moment and especially hospitality and entertainment businesses. We've been in the business for over 30 years now and I can't remember a time when it's been so difficult for businesses," she said. "All of these additional costs that we're having to fund really don't help us at all." However, she said the reason sick leave taken by staff had increased so dramatically was hard to pinpoint. "Since Covid people are more conscious of taking time off if they are sick and we fully encourage that the last thing we want is someone sick coming into work and making the rest of our team sick." "At the same time, we do have some people who are abusing it and just not really treating us fairly." Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Checkpoint yesterday she had been looking at sick leave changes alongside ongoing work to replace the Holidays Act. She did not disclose whether the changes would be based on the days or hours people were working. But said she believed someone who worked "what we expect to be a full week", would have the full entitlement, including someone who worked 40 hours in four days. Van Velden didn't give any evidence on how much sick leave part-timers were currently taking. "That's not the reason behind doing this change," she said. "It's to do with whether it's right, and is it right that someone who is working one day a week is entitled to the same sick leave allocation as someone who works five days a week - that's what we are basing this policy on, whether it's right."
RNZ News
12-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Social media videos promoting ways to game the KiwiSaver system
Inland revenue figures show a record number of hardship withdrawals from KiwSaver is the past year. Between July 2024 and April 2025, more than $389 million's been taken out of KiwiSaver for financial hardship reasons. That's up from $300m on the year before. People can access KiwiSaver retirement funds in significant financial hardship, including for example to pay for food, power or palliative care. However a fund manager told Checkpoint there is a multitude of social media videos full of workarounds to help people qualify for a hardship withdrawls and effectively game the system. General Manager for Kiwisaver Fisher Funds, David Boyle spoke to Lisa Owen.
Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Heat on Agriculture Minister to deliver KiwiSaver farm promise
The heat is on the Agriculture Minister to deliver this term on a pre-election promise to unlock KiwiSaver so it can be used to buy a first farm, a flock of sheep or herd of cows, and not just a house. At the moment, if you have been contributing to KiwiSaver for three years, you can withdraw almost all the money to buy a first home to live in, although there are a few exceptions. As a general rule, you can't have owned a home or land before. But there are some exceptions for second chance buyers who, for example, might have been through a relationship breakup. Federated Farmers has launched a petition urging the government to loosen the rules for accessing the retirement scheme, saying it will turbocharge the next generation of farmers and deliver on a commitment that Agriculture Minister Todd McClay made during a meeting in Morrinsville prior to the election. The minister has now said that his comments were a National Party promise, rather than a coalition promise. But McClay told Checkpoint he does intend to uphold the promise before the end of the government's term. "I hope to have an announcement later this year and yes, that would be before the end of this term. But the work is underway now," he said. "We're gonna work pretty hard on it. If there is a reason not to, I'll front up and tell them. But I'm confident that it will be done before the election" McClay said that while he is determined to stick to the pre-election promise, he wants to ensure that it does not come with any unintended consequences. "You've gotta make sure that it's fair cause there will be others in the economy that say, well, you know, I want to use my KiwiSaver to buy a business that also allows me to get into a farm," he said. "Secondly, it's around whether if you get a flock of sheep and what happens if you decide that you don't wanna go any further, and then purchase a home... then money might go back into KiwiSaver." McClay said that because of these scenarios, the overall policy responsibility lay with another minister. "As Agriculture Minister, I'm focused on what we can do for farmers... I think there's a much broader conversation than I'm willing to have as the Agriculture Minister." Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Richard McIntyre told Checkpoint the changes would help young farmers get on the property ladder. "This is a chance to allow young farmers to actually progress their way up the ladder, investing in in small scale business ownership with ultimately the goal of buying a farm," he said. "A tangible asset like a flock or herd that gets young farmers progressing up up the ladder within the agriculture sector makes a huge amount of sense." He said although the promise hasn't yet been delivered, he still has faith in the Agriculture Minister to deliver. "We've still got a lot of confidence that we're gonna get this over the line. It's just taking a little bit more work and a bit more pressure than we'd like it to." McClay said this government had already delivered the majority of what Federated Farmers had called for prior to the election, as well as intending to fulfil this final promise in some form. "We announced probably 25 pieces of policy and [Federated Farmers] had a list of 12 that we had already put out. Of those, 11 have been delivered on fully or are now under way with law changes." National MP for Rangitīkei Suze Redmayne submitted a members bill late last year, which will achieve some of what Federated Farmers is calling for, but it is yet to be drawn from the ballot.
