New Zealand holiday entitlement calculator (annual holidays)

How annual holidays in New Zealand is calculated

*"All employees become entitled to 4 weeks annual holidays (annual leave) after 12 months of continuous employment."* Four weeks of **your** week, so 20 days on a five-day week and 16 on a four-day one — the same weeks-based approach as the UK, Germany and Switzerland rather than a fixed day count.

**The word doing the work is "after".** The entitlement arises at twelve months; it does not accrue toward them. At eleven months the statutory answer is not 18.3 days, it is **zero**. Only three countries in this comparison do that — New Zealand, Türkiye and Brazil — and all three get there differently: Türkiye by a qualifying year before any band applies, Brazil by acquiring the right only at the end of each twelve-month period.

**Four weeks puts New Zealand mid-table, and the unit is what makes that readable.** Twenty working days is the same as Germany’s 24 Werktage deliver and the same as Poland’s and Latvia’s 20 — four countries at an identical real entitlement, publishing 4 weeks, 24 days, 20 days and 4 calendar weeks respectively.

**Several related rules change the picture and are not computed here.** Employees on a genuine fixed term under twelve months, and some casual employees, may instead be paid holiday pay as 8% of gross earnings with each pay. Public holidays are a separate entitlement. An employer may require leave to be taken during an annual closedown. And Employment New Zealand flags changes to leave coming in 2028.