Pay and conditions at work

What you are owed, what is negotiable, and how to read a payslip that does not match what you expected.

Ends with: Knowing what your pay should be, and enough to raise it when it is not.

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9 calculators
1.6 hours of reading
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Most people check their pay once, when they start a job, and then never again until something looks wrong. That is understandable and it is where money quietly goes missing: a wrong tax code costs you every fortnight until the year-end square-up, unpaid overtime and mishandled public holidays are among the most common breaches of the Holidays Act, and a salary that was competitive when you were hired stops being so without anyone mentioning it. This pathway is about the money side of being employed, in the order you actually meet it. It starts with reading a payslip and knowing which deductions are real, moves through the entitlements that are law rather than goodwill, and finishes with the moments where the number changes: asking for a rise, comparing an offer, starting on a trial period, or being made redundant. None of it requires a confrontation. Most of it requires knowing what the correct figure is before the conversation.

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  1. Reading your payslip

    Weekly, fortnightly and monthly pay produce different numbers for the same salary, and a fortnightly year has 26 or 27 pay periods depending on where the dates fall. That alone explains a lot of confused arithmetic.

    Work out your own: Salary Per Hour Calculator 7 min read

  2. Getting your tax code right

    The wrong code is the most common reason take-home pay looks wrong, and secondary tax is the most misunderstood part of it. It is not a penalty, and any over-deduction comes back, but not until the square-up.

    Work out your own: Secondary Tax Code Calculator 8 min read

  3. Checking the year to date

    Your year-to-date figures are the fastest way to catch a problem, because an error repeated every fortnight is obvious in the annual total and invisible in one payslip.

    Work out your own: YTD Earnings Calculator 6 min read

  4. Overtime and what it is worth

    New Zealand has no statutory overtime rate, so what you get depends entirely on your agreement. Knowing that changes the conversation from asking for the legal rate to negotiating one.

    Work out your own: Overtime Pay Calculator 8 min read

  5. Public holidays and days in lieu

    Working a public holiday earns time and a half and, if it was an otherwise working day, an alternative holiday as well. Both are law rather than goodwill, and both are commonly missed.

    Work out your own: Public Holiday Pay Calculator 9 min read

  6. Minimum wage and the living wage

    One is law and binding on every employer. The other is a voluntary rate calculated on what a household needs. Confusing them is common and the difference is substantial.

    Work out your own: Living Wage Calculator 7 min read

  7. What your age earns in your region

    The published median for your age band and region is the base rate for every pay conversation, and knowing what the figure does and does not measure is what makes it usable.

    Work out your own: Salary by region and age 7 min read

  8. Working out what to ask for

    A rise that matches inflation is not a rise. Knowing the real figure, after tax and after price changes, is what turns a request into a case.

    Work out your own: Pay Rise Calculator 9 min read

  9. Having the conversation

    The evidence, the timing and the number are all decisions you make before you walk in. The most common mistake is naming a figure without knowing what the role pays elsewhere.

    10 min read

  10. Comparing two offers properly

    Salary is one line. KiwiSaver treatment, leave above the minimum, travel, flexibility and the cost of getting there routinely outweigh a few thousand dollars of gross pay.

    9 min read

  11. Trial periods and what they mean

    A valid 90-day trial removes your right to claim unjustified dismissal, and the requirements for it to be valid are strict. Whether yours is valid is worth knowing on day one rather than day ninety.

    8 min read

  12. If the role goes

    New Zealand has no statutory redundancy pay, so what you receive is whatever your agreement says. The process, though, is regulated, and a redundancy that is not genuine is a different matter entirely.

    Work out your own: Redundancy Tax Calculator 10 min read

When to stop and get someone else

Employment New Zealand runs a free advice line and publishes the entitlements in plain English, and their guidance is the reference an employer will also be working from. A union will check a contract for a member. For anything involving dismissal, a trial period or a personal grievance, the time limits are short and they are strict, so take advice early rather than thinking about it for a month.

This pathway is information, not financial advice. Rates, thresholds and rules change; every guide carries the date it was last reviewed.

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Frequently asked questions

Is overtime paid at time and a half in New Zealand?

Not automatically. New Zealand has no statutory overtime rate, so any premium for extra hours comes from your employment agreement rather than from law. Many agreements do provide time and a half, and many do not provide anything beyond the ordinary rate. The one place a statutory premium does apply is working on a public holiday, which is paid at time and a half.

What do I get for working a public holiday?

At least time and a half for the hours worked. If the public holiday fell on a day you would otherwise have worked, you also get an alternative holiday, commonly called a day in lieu, to take later at an agreed time. Both entitlements come from the Holidays Act rather than from your employer goodwill, and missing the alternative holiday is one of the most common payroll errors.

Is secondary tax a penalty for having two jobs?

No. A secondary tax code applies a flat rate that approximates the marginal rate your combined income attracts, because your second employer cannot see what your first one pays you. It is an estimate collected through the year rather than an extra tax, and any over-deduction is refunded at the end-of-year square-up.

Can I be dismissed for any reason during a 90-day trial?

Only if the trial period is valid, and the requirements are strict: it must be agreed in writing before you start work, you must not have worked for that employer before, and the clause has to be correctly drafted. Where those conditions are met, you cannot bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. Where they are not, the trial period has no effect at all.