Public Holidays and Pay Processing

Public Holidays and Pay Processing

Public holidays and long weekends are great but they can sneak up on you! Be sure to double check you’re ready when the next public holiday might affect your pays.

Below is an example pay period if the holiday falls on Monday. You may be charged unexpected fees in a pay week after a long weekend. Shorter weeks means we can’t run your normal turn-around. For example, if you use the Two-day Plan for a Thursday Payday, you’ll need to transfer to us on Friday before the weekend.

How Public Holidays work at Thankyou Payroll.

Key Points

  • Your ‘Payday’ is defined as the day (from early AM) your employees see their wages in their bank account.
  • Our bank processes pays overnight before your set Payday, so you cannot have a Payday after a Saturday, Sunday or any national public holiday.
  • Don’t forget: record public holidays taken in the system. Use the ‘Public holiday off’ pay type in timesheets.
  • If a public holiday is worked, that needs to be paid at ‘time and a half’ or 1.5 times your employees’ standard rate AND you need to add an ‘Alternative Holiday’ day to your employee’s balance (in a new timesheet row).

Further notes:

  1. If your normal Payday is Tuesday, a typical long weekend like the one above will mean you will have to adjust your pay day (make it earlier or later).
  2. If your normal Payday is Thursday and you use the Two-day plan (i.e. you deposit by 10pm Monday), you will need to deposit the week before to save $1 per employee otherwise you’ll be charged the Fast-plan prices, unless you are a registered charity, when all plans are free.

Public Holidays for 2020/21

For all the official Public Holiday dates in New Zealand visit the New Zealand Government Website.

Holiday NameActual DateObserved DateNext Possible Payday1
Christmas DayFriday 25 DecemberFriday 25 DecemberWednesday 30 December
Boxing DaySaturday 26 DecemberMonday 28 DecemberWednesday 30 December
New Year’s Day 2021Friday 1 January 2021Friday 1 January 2021Wednesday 6 January 2021
Day after New Year’s Day 2021Saturday 2 January 2021Monday 4 January 2021Wednesday 6 January 2021
Waitangi Day2Saturday 6 FebruaryMonday 8 FebruaryWednesday 10 February
Good Friday2Friday 2 AprilFriday 2 AprilWednesday 7 April
Easter MondayMonday 5 AprilMonday 5 AprilWednesday 7 April
Anzac DaySunday 25 AprilMonday 26 AprilWednesday 28 April
Queen’s BirthdayMonday 7 JuneMonday 7 JuneWednesday 9 June
Labour DayMonday 25 OctoberMonday 25 OctoberWednesday 27 October
Christmas Day2Saturday 25 DecemberMonday 27 DecemberThursday 30 December
Boxing DaySunday 26 DecemberTuesday 28 DecemberThursday 30 December
New Year’s Day 20222Saturday 1 January 2022Monday 3 January 2022Thursday 5 January 2022
Day after New Year’s Day 2022Sunday 2 January 2022Tuesday 4 January 2022Thursday 5 January 2022

1 Optional Same-day payments are also available for holidays where a weekday follows.

2 These days can still be a payday if it’s your normal payday.

See more on our plans and pricing page.