27/10/2024
Happy Labour Day, New Zealand! Did you know that the labour movement in New Zealand was brought about because Samuel Parnell refused to come to work for more than eight hours in a row in 1840?
Back then, it was common for employers to expect ten to even fourteen-hour days from their employees, but Samuel helped change that by recognising that his skills as a carpenter were in sharp demand.
Although it wasn’t until fifty years later that the first Labour Day holiday was celebrated, in 1890, the road to defining labour laws has been paved by a long history of strikes, unions and negotiations between employers and employees.
Today, that agreement looks, on paper, very complicated — but that’s because there’s a lot of history and legislation behind how working hours and leave are calculated.
In today’s labour environment, we might expect to work any number of hours a day. But our pay, entitlements, benefits and leave are all decided on by our contracts, labour laws and individual employee agreements — not to mention overseas contracts, multiple incomes and additional holidays!
So, this Labour Day, enjoy the break. And if your payroll department is still reeling from having to calculate a non-standard Monday payment, talk to us at TimeFiler about how we can help you process employee conditions with ease: https://www.timefiler.com/contact-us
