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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: Major changes ahead for employers. The long awaited overhaul of

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Speaker 2: the Holidays Act will be announced today by the Workplace

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Speaker 2: Relations Minister. This will mean business owners will hopefully have

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Speaker 2: more certainty over their leave requirements of their staff. Leanne

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Speaker 2: Watson is a CEO of Business Canterbranch, is with me now,

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Lynne.

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Speaker 1: Good morning.

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Speaker 2: Okay, how long have you been waiting for this legislation

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Speaker 2: to be overhauled?

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Speaker 1: Oh? Look, a very long time. We are very much

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Speaker 1: looking forward today's announcement and what we hope will replace

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Speaker 1: this long criticized Holidays Act. In fact, in my eight

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Speaker 1: years a CEO of Business Canterbury, I would say no

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Speaker 1: single piece of legislation has caused more frustration more confusion

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Speaker 1: than the Holidays Act. And there's been you know, significant

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Speaker 1: compliance nightmares, riddled with complexity, menual pay roll fixes and

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Speaker 1: interventions and you know some pretty serious under and overpayment

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Speaker 1: risks involved.

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Speaker 2: It's been really tricky for casual employee. So how are

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Speaker 2: casual employees treated differently to full timers under the current

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Speaker 2: act and what are you hoping to see?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Look, I mean the first thing that we're hoping

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Speaker 1: to see is a regulation that is clearer, fairer and

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Speaker 1: just more practical for employers to implement and meet their obligations,

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Speaker 1: because that has been the single biggest concern that you know,

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Speaker 1: businesses have just simply almost needed an advanced calculus degree

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Speaker 1: to work out whether or not they are in fact

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Speaker 1: meeting those obligations. You and you're quite right when we

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Speaker 1: take into accounts some modern day work day practices. You know,

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Speaker 1: we do have many sectors who employ casual and part

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Speaker 1: time staff, manufacturers, hospitality, retail, and they have been I

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Speaker 1: guess the most impacted by mainly the pro rating of

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Speaker 1: leave based on the hour's work. That's been you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest issues. So that's what we're hoping

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Speaker 1: to see today is just that particular issue, you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot farer for employers to work through.

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Speaker 2: What else would you love to hear the curtain only en.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think just going back to really reducing that

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Speaker 1: compliance burden on businesses and having them, you know, understand

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Speaker 1: how to navigate that legislation that you know, that has

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Speaker 1: been the single biggest issue has caused huge confusion, and

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Speaker 1: not only for you know, small businesses, many of whom

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Speaker 1: of course don't having sort of dedicated HR resources internally,

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Speaker 1: but also you know, we know for some other bigger businesses,

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Speaker 1: in fact, including some of the government departments, they've also

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Speaker 1: you know, been victim of not understanding this and getting

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Speaker 1: it wrong. So I think just you know, going back

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Speaker 1: to making it really clear, really fear and really practical

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Speaker 1: for businesses to molement is what we're hoping to see today.

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Speaker 2: Are you confident, I mean, how was the consultation process.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel like your concerns were heard by the minister.

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Speaker 1: Yes, we have had some good consultation and in fact,

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Speaker 1: you know, Minister van Walden has been very actively involved

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Speaker 1: in engaging with our members and Canterbury not only on

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Speaker 1: this but also on health and safety reform. So the

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Speaker 1: consultation has been good. I guess the announcement today will determine,

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Speaker 1: you know, how much she has listened. This is complex.

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Speaker 1: I suspect that will take quite some time to work through,

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Speaker 1: but you know this has been worked on since twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: you know, so there needs to be some urgency to

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Speaker 1: address this to get it right.

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Speaker 2: Yeh, Watson, thank you so much for your time.

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