Latest / Best of Business / Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the upcoming changes to the Holidays Act

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Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the upcoming changes to the Holidays Act · Best of Business

• 0:09
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  Speaker 2: Major changes ahead for employers. The long awaited overhaul of
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  Speaker 2: the Holidays Act will be announced today by the Workplace
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  Speaker 2: Relations Minister. This woman. Business owners will hopefully have more
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  Speaker 2: certainty over their leave requirements of their staff. Leanne Watson
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  Speaker 2: is a CEO of Business Canterbranch's with me now, Good morning, Leanne,
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  Speaker 2: good morning, Okay, how long have you been waiting for
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  Speaker 2: this legislation to be overhauled?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, a very long time. We are very much
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  Speaker 3: looking forward today's announcement and what we hope will replace
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  Speaker 3: this long criticized Holidays Act. In fact, in my eight
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  Speaker 3: years a CEO of Business Canterbury, I would say no
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  Speaker 3: single piece of legislation has caused more frustration, more confusion
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  Speaker 3: than the Holidays Act. And there's been you know, significant
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  Speaker 3: compliance nightmares, riddled with complexity, menual pay roll fixes and
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  Speaker 3: interventions and you know some pretty serious ununder end overpayment
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  Speaker 3: risks involved.
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  Speaker 2: It's been really tricky for casual employee. So how are
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  Speaker 2: casual employees treated differently to full timers under the current
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  Speaker 2: Act and what are you hoping to see?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I mean the first thing that we're hoping
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  Speaker 3: to see is a regulation that is clearer, fairer, and
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  Speaker 3: just more practical for employers to implement and meet their obligations,
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  Speaker 3: because that has been the single biggest concern that you know,
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  Speaker 3: businesses have just simply almost needed an advanced calculus degree
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  Speaker 3: to work out whether or not they are in fact
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  Speaker 3: meeting those obligations. You and you're quite right when we
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  Speaker 3: take into accounts modern day work day practices. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we do have many sectors who employ casual and part
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  Speaker 3: time staff, manufacturers, hospitality, retail, and they have been I
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  Speaker 3: guess the most impacted by mainly the pro rating of
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  Speaker 3: leave based on the hour's work. That's been you know,
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  Speaker 3: one of the biggest issues. So that's what we're hoping
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  Speaker 3: to see today is just that particular issue, you know,
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  Speaker 3: a lot flearer for employers to work through.
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  Speaker 2: What else would you love to hear? The certainoon the end.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think just going back to really reducing that
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  Speaker 3: compliance burden on businesses and having them, you know, understand
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  Speaker 3: how to navigate that legislation that that has been the
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  Speaker 3: single biggest issue has caused huge confusion, and not only
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  Speaker 3: for you know, small businesses, many of whom of course
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  Speaker 3: don't having sort of dedicated HR resources internally, but also
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  Speaker 3: you know, we know for some other bigger businesses, in fact,
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  Speaker 3: including some of the government departments, they've also you know,
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  Speaker 3: been victim of not understanding this and getting it wrong.
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  Speaker 3: So I think just you know, going back to making
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  Speaker 3: it really clear, really fear and really practical for businesses
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  Speaker 3: to molement is what we're hoping to see today.
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  Speaker 2: Are you confident, I mean, how was the consultation process.
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel like your concerns were heard by the minister.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we have had some good consultation and in fact,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Minister van Walden has been very actively involved
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  Speaker 3: in engaging with our members and Canterbury not only on
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  Speaker 3: this but also on health and safety reform. So the
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  Speaker 3: consultation has been good. I guess the announcement today will
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  Speaker 3: determine how much she has listened. This is complex. I
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  Speaker 3: suspect it will take quite some time to work through,
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  Speaker 3: but you know this has been worked on since twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 3: so there needs to be some urgency to address this
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  Speaker 3: to get it right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeh, and Watson, thank you so much. For your time.
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