Record-keeping

As an employer, you must keep wage and time, and holidays and leave records that comply with the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Holidays Act 2003.

Employment Relations Act 2000 - New Zealand Legislation(external link)

Holidays Act 2003 - New Zealand Legislation(external link)

Keep records to show you’re following the rules

As an employer, you must be able to show that you’ve correctly given your employees their minimum employment entitlements. You need to keep records for each employee that show:

• time records – the days the employee worked and the number of hours worked on those days
• holiday and leave records – including when leave was taken and what was paid, and leave balances
• wage records – including what wages they were paid and how this was calculated.

Hours and breaks

Leave and holidays

Payslips

Why record-keeping matters

Good record-keeping:

• makes sure your employees' pay and leave are correct
• prevents misunderstandings
• protects you and your employee if there is a problem
• helps you resolve problems if they arise.

You need to have good records so that you can correctly calculate different types of leave, and entitlements such as annual holidays.

Leave and holiday pay

Your employees have the right to:

• know everything you’ve recorded on their file, and
• see their records if they ask for them.

Employee rights and responsibilities

Which records you must keep

For each employee, there are records you must keep and some you should. These are explained below. This information covers employment law requirements and that there are also other record-keeping requirements in law such as tax law.

Personal information

Personal information records you must keep:

• name
• postal address
• age, if under 20 years.

Personal information records you should keep (but you do not have to by law):

• copies of employees’ personal contact details, such as their email addresses, home phone and mobile numbers, if they are happy to provide these
• in case of emergency contact details
• employees’ bank account details if this payment method has been agreed to
• details of employees’ work permits, if applicable.

Employee privacy

Employment and employment agreements

Information about their employment and employment agreements you must keep:

• the date they started working for you
• whether they’re on an individual employment agreement or a collective agreement (and if on a collective agreement, the title and expiry date of the agreement and the employee’s classification)
• a copy of the employment agreement
• the kind of work they are employed for
• if they leave - the date when employment ended.

You should also keep dates of when any additional terms in an employee’s employment agreement take effect.

Employment agreements

Employment agreement builder – business.govt.nz(external link)

Hours

You must keep records of hours worked by each employee, including the number of hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours. If you and your employee have agreed on certain hours and pay, then a statement of those usual hours and pay will be enough. This can be recorded in:

• the wages and time record
• the employment agreement
• a roster or schedule, or
• any other document or record normally used during employment.

Hours of work

For an employee on a salary, usual hours include any additional hours worked that are consistent with the employment agreement. But you must record the extra hours worked to show that they’re still being paid above minimum wage.

It’s also good practice to record evidence of the rest breaks and meal breaks an employee took – or evidence of the compensation they received if they did not take breaks.

Rostering

Working overtime or extra shifts

Pay

For each employee’s wages, you must record:

• the wages paid in each pay period and how these have been calculated
• the cash value for any board and lodgings provided
• the cash value of any alternative holidays they gave up for payment.

Types of pay

Payslips

It’s also good practice to record all wage deductions and any agreements for wage deductions, such as:

• PAYE
• student loan deductions, and
• KiwiSaver or other superannuation contributions.

Deductions

Leave

Leave records you must keep:

• the dates the employee last became entitled to annual holidays and sick leave and their current entitlement to annual holidays and sick leave
• the dates of leave taken, including annual holidays, sick leave, bereavement leave, and family violence leave, and payment received for each
• any annual holidays cashed up as well as the date and amount paid for each entitlement year
• the dates and number of hours worked on public holidays and the payment for these, or
  • the date (or 24-hour period) the public holiday or any part of it has been transferred to, and
  • the date the employee became entitled to any alternative holiday (alternative holidays)
• the dates of, and payments for, any public holidays or alternative holidays they did not work but were entitled to holiday pay
• details of any Employment Relations Education leave taken
• the amount paid to the employee as holiday pay when they left the employment.

Leave and holidays

Final pay

Leave records you should keep

Leave records you should keep but you do not have to by law include: 

• requests to transfer public holidays (and whether or not these were agreed to)
• requests to cash-up annual holidays (and whether or not these were agreed to)
• records of the date employees become entitled to sick and bereavement leave (to avoid disputes)
• records of the dates when employees are on unpaid leave and the reason for the unpaid leave (for example, unpaid sick leave). This information is required to assess whether an employee has completed 12 months of continuous employment.

Timeframes for supplying records to Labour Inspectors

Employers must comply within 10 working days of being required by a to supply copies of records (or produce records for inspection) if they are unable to meet this requirement immediately.

A Labour Inspector can:

• issue an infringement notice and a fee of $1,000 per offence, up to a maximum of $20,000 in infringement fees in a 3-month period, or
• seek a penalty at the Employment Relations Authority for each breach of up to $10,000 for an individual or $20,000 against a company or corporate body.

Health and Safety responsibilities

It’s also good practice to keep evidence of how you are meeting your health and safety responsibilities in the workplace.

Workplace policies and procedures

How to keep records

You must keep wages and time records, and holiday and leave records for 6 years (even if the employee has left). Other records, such as business records, need to be kept longer for tax purposes. You can keep records on paper or electronically – if the information can be accessed easily.

You can use these templates to set up records for wages and time, annual holidays, sick leave and other leave for each employee:

• Wages and time records [PDF, 138 KB]
• Leave and holiday records [PDF, 280 KB]
• Holiday and wage record spreadsheet [XLS, 64 KB]

If you have payroll software so everything is calculated on a computer, you still need to check your payroll system to make sure it accurately records any changes to employees’ hours and pay.

If you're not sure whether you’re keeping accurate records of everything required, you can contact us.

Timesheets

Keeping accurate records is easier if employees fill out timesheets.

If an employment agreement (or workplace policy) says that employees need to fill out timesheets this cannot be changed unless the employer and employee agree.

If an employee forgets to put in timesheets, or they are not correct, they must still be paid. In this situation, you will need to talk to your employee and agree on what to do.

If you do not keep accurate records

If you do not keep accurate wage and time, and holiday and leave records required as by the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Holidays Act 2003, a Labour Inspector could issue an infringement notice, ordering you to pay money. If an employee applied to the Employment Relations Authority, they could order penalties against you for not keeping the right records.

• A Labour Inspector can issue an infringement notice for a breach of the record-keeping requirements (an infringement offence). Infringement fees are $1,000 per offence. If you have breached the record-keeping requirements for each employee, you could get a $1,000 infringement offence for each employee – meaning you would need to pay thousands of dollars.
• The Employment Relations Authority (the Authority) can order penalties of up to $10,000 per breach for an employer that is an individual. For corporate bodies, the Authority can order penalties of up to $20,000, per breach.