# Annual Leave Entitlement NZ 2026 — 4 Weeks After 12 Months

Source page: https://valem.run/calculators/new-zealand/holiday-entitlement

Employment New Zealand states that all employees become entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual holidays after 12 months of continuous employment. Because the entitlement is in weeks of your own working week, that is 20 days on a five-day week and 16 on a four-day one — and it arises at twelve months rather than building up toward them.

**Tax year:** 2026

## How it 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.

## Worked example

With Days you work per week of 5, this model computes Days Entitled of 20.

## Inputs

| Name | Label | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `daysPerWeek` | Days you work per week | number |
| `monthsWorked` | Months of continuous employment | number |
| `daysTaken` | Days already taken | number |

## Sources

- [Employment New Zealand (MBIE), Annual holidays — employment.govt.nz (four weeks of paid annual holidays after twelve months of continuous employment)](https://www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/annual-holidays/) (checked 2026-10-11)

## What this page claims

The Valem engine reproduces this model's formula through 7 self-test cases. That shows internal consistency, not that the formula matches current law; the cited sources are the evidence for that. Estimate, not tax advice.

## For agents

- Model manifest (formula, constants, test vectors): https://valem.run/calculators/new-zealand/holiday-entitlement.json
- Compute by URL: https://valem.run/calculators/new-zealand/holiday-entitlement.json?daysPerWeek=5
- MCP: https://valem.run/mcp/calculators (call `calculate` with calculator `new-zealand/holiday-entitlement`)