Flavell Te Ururoa: Holidays Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Holidays Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa i tenei ahiahi. It is interesting to be talking about the Holidays Amendment Bill when two members are absent from the House at this point in time. Compared with the other employment legislation that is being tabled today this bill is relatively straightforward and non-contentious but there are some fish-hooks in it that I hope the select committee process will pull up. 
The key option to exchange the fourth week of leave for cash has received a significant amount of media space in the last few weeks. Basically the bill proposes to amend the Holidays Act allowing employees and employers to agree to the employer paying out up to 1 week of an employee’s minimum entitlement to annual holidays at the employee’s request. I state that today for those who are listening in to the debate as the debate started some time ago. 
There is an important rider to this legislation in that the maximum entitlement of leave that can be applied for is 1 week and it is just a request. Employers may have a policy that the employer does not have to consider the employee’s request. Employers are expected but not required to consult employees when developing such a policy and they also have to advise any potential new employees of the policy before they accept an offer of employment. 
It is good to see written into the bill too that employers are not allowed to encourage or pressure their workers to cash up their holidays. It is entirely up to the employee to initiate. It is an option it might be available to some but it is not intended to be used to coerce employees to sign up to something that they might never agree to. But I guess the key issue when thinking about whether to pay out holiday entitlements all comes back to the whole notion about work-life balance. Work-life balance is different for each and every one of us. I hazard a guess that for many of the people who inhabit the parliamentary complex it is a concept that sounds nice on paper but is almost impossible to achieve. 
All the research tells us that there is a consistent demand for greater workplace flexibility in order that employees can balance their roles in the paid workforce with their other commitments and responsibilities. Other research tells us that when it comes to those other responsibilities perhaps caring for dependants and older family members Maori are very highly represented in the group of carers volunteers who provide the fuel to keep our communities afloat. 
The demanding and never-relenting call to meet one’s obligations and responsibilities has come at a considerable cost. In a 2008 study conducted by Fiona Te Momo she reported on the work-life balance for Maori academic women and noted the rise in cultural responsibilities for this group. She said: “My Maori women colleagues frequently describe being so overcome with work responsibilities that they are unable to balance their lives … they continue to place one foot behind the other to move forward in order to survive in academic life”. We will be particularly looking to hear from Maori women from Maori workers from whanau and from the runanga of Maori unionists to know whether this bill will have a positive effect in terms of providing workers with genuine choice about the way they work enabling better work-life balance between the time and energy they commit to paid work and other responsibilities. 
Parliament has to be concerned that a significant portion of the total workforce are working 50-plus hours per week. We know too that employees in particular industries and occupations are at greater risk of working longer hours and that again Maori are overrepresented in the group most at risk of working long hours without a break. It comes back to the fundamental question of the role of work in the midst of all the other activities that one fits into a day such as community activities and caring for others let alone leisure pursuits. It makes plain sense that any initiative that can help to achieve a better work-life balance will reap rewards for whanau who can see each other far more frequently at dawn or dusk and will also help businesses to increase productivity address skill shortages and retain staff. 
Will the bill benefit Maori? Potentially yes. Being able to choose to cash in a week’s holiday might just help to ease the financial pressure either to take the lump sum for a full week at one time or spread it out and make more than one request during the entitlement year. It might therefore help to contribute to the everyday survival of whanau. But there are some other hooks that need to be scrutinised carefully at the select committee. 
As a result of this bill employers and employees will be able to agree to transfer the observance of public holidays on to another identified working day. That might work for many of our special days that whanau observe throughout the motu such as the days of particular tribal significance that whanau members often have to take annual leave for. But there would be a question in my mind about the power dynamics in the relationship between employers and employees. For instance could it be foreseen that an employer might exert pressure on a workforce to force workers not to observe Waitangi Day as a day of national significance? I am sure I read in the bill’s small print that when it comes down to a dispute and if agreement cannot be reached employers will be able to decide when an alternative holiday will be taken. That is an issue I hope is taken up with a vengeance at the select committee. 
The other issue we hope to see clarified is that employers are now able to request proof of sickness or injury within 3 consecutive days of an employee taking sick leave. The employer will have to cover the employee’s reasonable costs in obtaining this proof such as paying for the doctor but we have some questions around how that will impact on the goodwill between employers and employees. At this stage the Maori Party will enable this bill to be exposed to the rigour of public scrutiny and we look forward to the debate that may well happen as the bill moves through the various stages. Kia ora tatou.