Officials have reversed their advice that employers legally have to pay a worker who is on ACC for a public holiday.
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That previous advice was labelled wrong by an employment lawyer and the payroll industry.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in new online advice, now says an employer generally will not have to pay, because the public holiday is not a day that the worker would otherwise be on deck, since they are injured.
"This is because while an employee is injured, there is usually no reasonable expectation that they will be at work," it said.
However, it said there were exceptions which should be looked at case by case.
Employment lawyer John Hannan said the ministry was now accepting the point that after the first week off work, public holidays need not be paid while weekly compensation is being paid.
"This is the key point," Hannan said today.
"They agree with my conclusion that public holidays need not be paid while 'ACC weekly compensation' is being paid."
The first week off is different, and the law remained "a bit blurry", he said, adding that the ministry's position now agreed with his own, that a worker must be paid by the employer as a public holiday, and the day not deducted from sick leave, in that first week.
The new advice did not impress the Payroll Practitioners Association.
"They do not answer the actual question, and leave it vague and open, yet again," association chief executive David Jenkins said.
His protests last month helped prompt the ministry to withdraw its earlier advice.
Jenkins said the online section headed 'Interaction with ACC payments' "still implies an employee could be paid for public holiday, but does not nail it down".
