Wood MichaelHOLIDAYS (INCREASING SICK LEAVE) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): I present to the House a legislative statement for the second reading of the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I move That the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.I'm very happy to be back in the House for the second reading of this important piece of legislation. It's an important part of the Government's programme of delivery to ensure fairness for working people and to deal with an important public health issue. It sits with a range of other initiatives that the Government has progressed in its first six months in office this term to ensure that working people do have a fair go. We've increased the minimum wage to $20 per hour brought security guards into the protections of Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act ensured that seafarer welfare centres are properly funded and we've taken action on longstanding problems with the Holidays Act by accepting the recommendations of the independent task force. And this piece of legislation which increases the statutory minimum for sick leave from five days per annum to 10 days per annum is an important part of that programme of delivery and I'm pleased that we've been able to move on it so early on in the term.This bill is an important part of our response to COVID-19. Having gone through the year of COVID I think that we have learnt that it is time for New Zealand to move past that dangerous culture of just toughing it out when people are sick and continuing to come into work. I've done it and I suspect that many others in this Chamber have done it from time to time. We feel the pressure we feel the sense of obligation we think it's no big deal but after a year of dealing with a global pandemic we have had to learn and relearn that the best thing for Kiwi workers to do for their own health for the health of their co-workers and for the public health interest is to stay at home and get well. We know that for many people that statutory minimum of five days per year is simply not enough to cater for that particularly if we think about some groups of workers who might have dependants who are reliant on that sick leave to cover the illness of their children or other dependants as well.As I said this is important both for the worker themselves; we want to make sure that they don't have to come into work when they're unwell because of a lack of adequate sick leave. It is important for the co-workers for everyone else in the workplace. We've learnt through the course of COVID-19 that bugs do spread and of course if someone comes into work when they are sick those bugs spread to other people and potentially have a bigger impact on that workplace than had the person taken a couple of days to get over it. A study in the United States in 2015 revealed that workers coming into a workplace when they were sick decreased productivity in that workplace by 20 percent in the period concerned.Thirdly this is an important public health measure. COVID-19 for most of us in our lifetimes has been the first kind of pandemic that we have to deal with at a scale like we have had to deal with but it is potentially not the last one that we will have to deal with and we just have to make sure that—whether it's in a pandemic like COVID-19 whether it's during seasonal influenza or it's one of those other bugs that people pick up—we don't spread it around our workplaces and around our communities.The select committee has reported the bill back and recommended no changes. I want to thank the select committee for their work. They were very ably chaired by chair Marja Lubeck and they received around 400 submissions and had a large number of oral submissions as a part of that. There were varied submissions in support and in opposition to the bill and many raised very valid issues that the select committee has carefully considered and I just want to touch on a few of those in the time that I have remaining.One of the issues that was raised with the select committee was the question of the qualifying criteria before people are able to access paid sick leave. At the moment someone needs to have been employed by their employer for six months before they are entitled to the statutory minimum for sick leave—currently five days to transition to 10 days under this bill. There were some very reasonable and well-considered representations which argued that in reality a person can get sick on day 100 of their employment or on day one of their employment; so it doesn't necessarily make sense to have that entitlement kicking in after six months and can lead to perverse consequences with people before that six-month criteria coming into work when they are unwell with all of the fallout that I've previously discussed.I think this is a very valid point but it was ruled to be out of scope of this bill by the clerks. But the good news on this front is it is part of the Government's work picking up the recommendations of the Holidays Act task force. This is one of the recommendations that we have accepted. So officials are right now working on the broader programme of changes that will come into effect through the task force recommendations and bringing in a staggered entitlement to sick leave from day one of employment is one of those recommendations. So while that will not be progressed through this piece of legislation it is on the Government's work programme along with a range of other very very positive changes to simplify and improve the Holidays Act as part of that task force process.Secondly there were submissions around the possibility of prorating the entitlement of sick leave for part-time employees and a number of employers raised this and it was given consideration by the select committee. The contention put forward as part of those arguments is that an entitlement of 10 days' sick leave is more than what might be required by part-time employees who might be working a couple of days per week. The committee and I have received advice from officials on this issue and of course when you think about it the reality of sick leave for a part-timer is that a part-timer has fewer days on which they are going to be employed and going into work.So on average the call on paid sick leave that a part-time employee will be making will be less than the call being made by a full-time employee just by dint of the fact that there are going to be fewer days at which that person is at work on which they might be sick. So the concern that this might result in part-time employees maxing out their sick leave entitlement is one that we do not think is borne out and I do think some of the arguments that were raised around possible abuse of the system are somewhat overblown. I think we do have to operate under a high-trust model and most employees and employers do. And of course there are provisions in employment legislation to deal with any abuses that come into effect.There were also representations primarily from unions about the question of when the increased entitlement to 10 days' sick leave will take effect and the commencement of the bill as well. So the provisions of the bill will come into effect two months after the bill receives Royal assent and employees will then be entitled to the increased allocation of sick leave at their next anniversary date for their sick leave anniversary which is generally the date that is six months after their starting date with the employer. Effectively representations—mainly from unions but from some others—were to bring both of those forward; could we have the increased entitlement applying closer to the date of Royal assent and could we bring the increased entitlement forward from an employee's anniversary date to some earlier point in time? Again those arguments do have some utility about them; they would give the benefit of this legislation to employees more quickly. But we have been conscious of bringing this bill forward in a balanced way that is manageable for employers who will have to make changes to their payroll systems and other systems in their workplaces. So taking that all into account we have retained those provisions which mean that the bill kicks in two months after Royal assent and that the increased provisions will kick into place on the employee's anniversary date.Finally I do want to address some of the core arguments that I have heard from some people who have been opposed to this bill including the Opposition. Fundamentally I think this does come back to the kind of model that we want to have for employment relations in our country. Do we want that low road low trust low pay low entitlement model or do we actually work together and really partner to make sure that we have workplaces that are fair safe and productive? As Minister my view is that for too long we have seen those things as being in conflict with one another. Yet the very best workplaces and employers that I deal with in my role are employers who recognise that those things go together—that when you treat your workers well when there are adequate entitlements when people are able to take time off when they're unwell you build up trust with your workforce you increase productivity you keep your people for longer. And that actually is the high-road path that this Government is taking with this bill and as part of our broader vision for employment relationships and I think that is a very important thing that needs to be heard in our communities and many many people I think get this particularly after the year of COVID when we have seen the damage that can be done if people don't have adequate entitlements.I do note that at the moment around about 50 percent of people through their agreements do have 10 days or more. So the impact of people relying only on the statutory minimum falls disproportionately at the moment on women on Māori on Pasifika and more vulnerable workforces. So this is an important bill in terms of the health and wellbeing of individuals of workforces for the public health interest and it's about making sure that we do have a fair a safe and a productive employment relations system that is equitable for all workers in New Zealand. Again I thank the select committee for their work I thank submitters I look forward to the further speeches in this debate and I commend the bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.