From 1 April 2019, the Domestic Violence – Victims’ Protection Act 2018 in New Zealand gives employees the right to:
At least 10 days of paid family violence leave. This is separate from Annual, Sick, and Bereavement leave.
Ask for short-term flexible working arrangements.
This entitlement applies to employees who have worked for at least six months or meet one of the following conditions:
The employment has continued for six months.
During the six months, the employee needs to have averaged 10 hours per week and worked either:
1 hour per week.
40 hours per month.
For more information about this leave, please see the link below:
Set up New Zealand Family Violence Leave in MicrOpay
There are two options for setting up NZ Domestic Violence leave.
Option one - use Other Leave with a Leave Reason to pay the leave. Track the number of days taken using the Leave History Report.
Option two - create a User Defined Leave class and attach this to the employee with the available balance.
If you intend for your employees to apply for this type of leave via third-party software (e.g., Employee Self Service), please check what is visible in the display of leave taken by general staff.
Option One - Other Leave with a Leave Reason
Set up the Leave Reason in the New Zealand database:
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Leave, Leave Reasons.
Click Add.
Enter a Code and Description.
Choose Other as the Leave Type and Average Daily Pay as the Rate Type.
Click OK to save.
To process NZ Domestic Violence Leave in timesheets:
Go to Payroll, Transactions, Processing, Extended Timesheet.
Select the Employee.
Choose Other Leave from the Pay Summary.
Enter the Leave Reason set up above.
Enter the number of Hours to be paid and the Start and End Date.
Enter any other Pay Components due to be paid.
Click Process when complete.
To review the number of days taken:
Go to Payroll, Reports, General, Employee Leave History Report.
Select the Leave Reason created above.
Enter the date range required.
You can also add a filter on the Employee.
Click Preview.
Option Two - User Defined Leave
Set up a User Defined Leave:
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Leave, User Defined Leave.
Celect Add.
Enter the Code and Description.
Choose Grant as the Method.
If a Leave Reason already exists, select it and proceed to step six. If it doesn’t exist, right-click and choose Add New from the menu.
Enter a Code and Description.
User Defined Leave will automatically populate the Leave Type. Select Average Daily Pay as the Rate Type.
Click OK to save.
Under the Entitlement: Maximum each Period enter in 10 Days Each 1 Year.
Change Accumulate Entitlements to Reset Entitlement to zero whether positive or negative.
Click OK to save.
Attach the Leave class to the New Zealand Employee:
When an employee qualifies for Domestic Violence Leave, the User Defined Leave can be attached to the Employee record. At the end of the year, the Leave should be reviewed; if it is no longer needed, remove it from the Employee's record; otherwise, another 10 days will be granted.
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Employees, Employees.
Edit the employee.
Select Leave.
Click Add and select User Defined Leave as the Leave Type.
Then select the Leave Type created above as the User Defined Leave Class.
Tick Grant Immediately, this will grant the leave the next time leave is updated for the employee.
Change the Entitlement Date to reflect the date you want the entitlement to begin from.
Click OK and OK.
Process Family Violence Leave in Timesheets:
Go to Payroll, Transactions, Processing, Extended Timesheet.
Select the Employee.
Choose User Defined Leave from the Pay Summary.
Select the Leave Class and Reason set up above.
Enter the number of Hours to be paid and the Start and End Date.
Enter any other Pay Components due to be paid.
Click Process when complete.