Employee Holidays - what records do I need to keep?

As an employer, you have a legal responsibility to accurately record the employee’s Holiday and Leave entitlements in a “Holiday and Leave Record”.

Most companies keep their holiday and leave as part of their computer payroll package.

The requirement is that the information is kept in writing or in a form or manner that allows the information in the record to be easily accessed and converted into written form.

You are legally required to keep the record for not less than six years after the date on which the information is entered.

The record must contain the following information:

1. the name of the employee;

2. the date on which the employee's employment commenced;

3. the days on which the employee actually works, if the information is relevant to the calculation of entitlements or payment for entitlements under this Act;

4. the employee's current entitlement to annual holidays;

5. the date on which the employee last became entitled to annual holidays:

6. the employee's current entitlement to sick leave;

7. the dates on which any annual holiday, sick leave, or bereavement leave has been taken;

8. the amount of payment for any annual holiday, sick leave, or bereavement leave that has been taken;

9. the portion of any annual holidays that have been paid out in each entitlement year (if applicable);

10. the date and amount of payment, in each entitlement year, for any annual holidays paid out (if applicable);

11. the dates of, and payments for, any public holiday on which the employee worked;

12. the number of hours that the employee worked on any public holiday;

13. the day or part of any public holiday agreed to be transferred and the calendar day or period of 24 hours to which it has been transferred (if applicable);

14. the date on which the employee became entitled to any alternative holiday;

15. the details of the dates of, and payments for, any public holiday or alternative holiday on which the employee did not work, but for which the employee had an entitlement to pay;

16. the cash value of any board or lodgings, as agreed or determined;

17. the details of any payment in exchange for an alternative holiday;

18. the date of the termination of the employee's employment (if applicable);

19. the amount paid to the employee as holiday pay upon the termination of the employee's employment (if applicable).

Your employees, their union representative (if applicable), other authorised representative, or a Labour Inspector may request that you provide access to or a copy of the individual holiday and leave record applicable to any individual employee. (If the request is not directly from the employee, employers must make sure that they are authorised by the employee to disclose the information to any third party).

The information must be provided as soon as practicable either by providing access to, or a copy of, or a certified extract from the record.

Failure to keep a record or failure to provide access to the record can result in a penalty of up to $20,000 being imposed by the Employment Relations Authority. If the Employment Relations Authority decides that the employer has failed to keep a record, or provide access to a record, the Authority may accept the statements made by the employee about payments made, or leave actually taken.

Please be aware that this obligation applies to all employees – including senior managers, as history indicates that employers could face difficulties if they rely on a senior employee to keep their own records.

Disclaimer This article, and any information contained on our website is necessarily brief and general in nature, and should not be substituted for professional advice. You should always seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters addressed.