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Methodology

New Zealand Public Holiday Pay Calculator methodology

Calculate a bounded NZ public-holiday pay branch with explicit otherwise-working-day and RDP/ADP facts. Scope: New Zealand public holidays, rules checked 27 July 2026. Official Employment New Zealand public-holiday and alternative-holiday sources captured and reviewed 27 July 2026.
Duc Nguyen X.By Duc Nguyen X.· Founder, Wage101Last reviewed: View update historyMethodology

Educational only: Work and pay decision support, not tax, legal, financial or career advice.

Privacy: Calculations run locally; Wage101 does not receive your work or pay inputs.

Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.

Scope: New Zealand work and pay planning using your own assumptions.

1. Formulas and units

Public-holiday pay
publicHolidayPay = worked ? max(round to cents(rdpOrAdpForRelevantTime × 1.5), contractualPayIncludingPenalRates) : otherwiseWorkingDay ? round to cents(rdpOrAdpForRelevantTime) : 0

Where

worked
Worked on the public holiday? (worked status)Source: Work record
otherwiseWorkingDay
Otherwise working day? (otherwise-working-day status)Source: Work record
rdpOrAdpForRelevantTime
RDP or ADP for relevant time (NZD/relevant time)Source: User assumption
contractualPayIncludingPenalRates
Contractual pay including penal rates (NZD/day)Source: User assumption
publicHolidayPay
Public-holiday pay (NZD/day)Source: Calculated output
contractualPayIncludingPenalRates
Contractual amount compared (NZD/day)Source: Calculated output
Time-and-a-half amount
timeAndAHalfAmount = worked ? round to cents(rdpOrAdpForRelevantTime × 1.5) : 0

Where

worked
Worked on the public holiday? (worked status)Source: Work record
rdpOrAdpForRelevantTime
RDP or ADP for relevant time (NZD/relevant time)Source: User assumption
timeAndAHalfAmount
Time-and-a-half amount (NZD/relevant time)Source: Calculated output
Contractual amount compared
contractualPayIncludingPenalRates = worked ? entered contractualPayIncludingPenalRates : 0

Where

worked
Worked on the public holiday? (worked status)Source: Work record
contractualPayIncludingPenalRates
Contractual pay including penal rates (NZD/day)Source: User assumption
contractualPayIncludingPenalRates
Contractual amount compared (NZD/day)Source: Calculated output

Money inputs and outputs use NZD. Pay, time, benefits and work-related costs use the units stated beside each input.

2. Worked example

Input assumptions

Work eight hours on an otherwise working public holiday with NZ$240 RDP/ADP.

Calculation and outputs

Example

Work eight hours on an otherwise working public holiday with NZ$240 RDP/ADP.

Public-holiday pay
360.00 currency units
Time-and-a-half amount
360.00 currency units
Contractual amount compared
0.00 currency units

Time-and-a-half and contractual amounts are compared without monetising alternative leave.

Interpretation

Use the result only for the confirmed public-holiday work and entitlement facts.

3. Validation and boundary checks

  • The worked example uses the same shared-work-logic engine as the interactive planner.
  • Unsupported eligibility, policy branches and out-of-range assumptions fail closed.
  • Result cards, trace, CSV, PDF and methodology bind to named engine result fields.

4. Assumptions and source classification

  • Otherwise-working-day status is explicitly confirmed.
  • The entered RDP or ADP and contractual amount are correct.

Official dependencies used by this calculator are captured in the Wage101 evidence register and version-acknowledged in this page history. User-entered work and pay assumptions remain separate from those official inputs.

5. Limitations

  • The tool does not determine otherwise-working-day status or RDP versus ADP.
  • Alternative-holiday entitlement is identified but never monetised.

This is educational decision support, not personalised tax, legal, financial or career advice. Check how the rules that apply in New Zealand treat your work and pay circumstances, and seek qualified advice where appropriate.

6. Update and evidence policy

Registered family-level suites test formula invariants and example reconciliation; the release ledger records that coverage without claiming a separate oracle for every line of public copy. Registered official sources block dependent public workflows when their evidence or version acknowledgement is unavailable or invalid. Work and pay inputs remain user-supplied because they vary by person, job and contract.

Change history

  1. : Initial public release of the New Zealand Public Holiday Pay planner and methodology.

Related reading

Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.

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