Managing leave
Leave management is how boards and their delegate(s) monitor and manage employee leave.
The school's operational needs must be balanced with the employee's entitlements and individual needs, all while minimising financial risk and meeting legal requirements.
Leave entitlements for teachers and principals are accumulated based on service in a state or state-integrated school.
The entitlement is carried over when they transfer between state or state-integrated schools (unless they have previously received a severance or long service payment under surplus staffing provisions).
If a provision for annual holidays, public holidays, alternative holidays, bereavement, or sick leave entitlements in the employee's collective agreement (or promulgated individual employment agreement) is better than the minimum rights in the Holidays Act 2003open_in_new, then the employee gets the holidays or leave as provided for in their employment agreement.
Why do boards have to do this?
The health and wellbeing of employees is supported through the regular use of annual leave and accessing their other leave requirements when needed.
By actively managing leave balances, boards can ensure adequate coverage to meet the operational needs of the school. It is also important to ensure school staff understand leave policies, procedures, and expectations upfront.
Legal and sector obligations must be met, allowing employees to use their legal entitlements according to the Holidays Act 2003 and the collective agreements.
Many staff regularly take annual leave when the school closes for school holidays.
This keeps many employees' total annual leave entitlements manageable.
Other employees, who work during term breaks, can end up accumulating annual leave.
If a board fails to manage leave appropriately, financial liability could be incurred when weeks or years of leave are accumulated.
What does your board have to do?
State your expectations for the management of employee leave.
Ensure the principal has implemented good procedures and record-keeping for doing this.
Include leave liabilities in your board's annual report and budgets.
Check that appropriate delegations have been made regarding leave.
For example, the principal should be delegated the authority to manage employees' leave, but your board may retain approval in certain circumstances, such as the employee-paid discretionary leave over five days.
Monitor the staff leave balances through the principal's reports to your board, including the School Usage and Expenditure (SUE), banking staffing, and leave management reports.
This will assist in proactive conversations with staff building up large leave balances. It may be for a specific reason, such as planning an overseas trip and/or providing the opportunity to get the employee to make a plan to use their leave, reducing the leave liability.
Ensure any discretionary leave requests are considered in line with policy and employment agreements.
Manage and monitor the principal's leave according to policy and procedures.
Plan when and how your principal will take annual leave at the beginning of each year.
Some points about principal leave:
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Principals' sick leave can be recorded online in Education Payroll Limited (EPL).
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Principals' annual leave cannot currently be recorded in EPL.
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Secondary principals' annual leave entitlement of 30 days should be recorded at the school level.
Risk of an employee resigning with a large unused leave balance
If your board follows the suggestions above, this will mitigate the financial risk of an employee resigning with a large leave entitlement that needs to be paid out.
Ensure the resolution of any significant leave liability is in line with policy.
What leave policies does your board need?
Any delegations must be documented so your board and principal understand their respective roles and responsibilities regarding managing leave.
To ensure your board’s delegation list is up-to-date, review it at least once a year.
Managing long-term leave of the principal
Usually, when a principal takes annual leave, they can either be covered by their deputy or take it when the school is closed for instruction.
However, sometimes a principal may need a longer leave of absence, such as when they take parental or long-term leave for study or a sabbatical.
A school always needs a principal. For further guidance and resources for recruiting an acting principal, check out our articles on Board as Employer of Principalsopen_in_new.
Questions your board could ask
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Do we have a personnel policy that states our expectations for leave management?
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If not, should we consider adopting one?
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Have we recorded leave delegations in a register?
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Do we include leave liabilities in our annual report?
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Are we monitoring leave balances through the principal's report?
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Do we plan when and how annual leave is taken at the beginning of each year with the principal?
Templates, resources, and references
Click on the link(s) below to access the templates, resources, and references related to this topic.
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Education Payroll Limited
Employment New Zealand (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment)
Legislation