Which New Zealand employers are paying back holiday pay

Last checked 2026-08-12. Programmes open and close often — every entry links to the employer's own page, which is always the authority.

For two decades many New Zealand employers calculated holiday pay incorrectly under the Holidays Act 2003. A lot of them are now paying it back. If you have left one of these employers, you usually have to put your hand up before you see any of it — they cannot pay someone they cannot find.

There is no government list of these programmes

Each employer publishes its own page and no agency joins them up. This is the list, compiled from those pages. It is free, it sells nothing, and every row ends at the employer rather than at us. If it is useful, you are welcome to link to it or quote it.

Open now — 12 employers

Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora (all former district health boards)

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Employed any time since 1 May 2010
Scale: About $961m paid so far, to ~86,000 current and ~44,000 former staff. Health NZ says ~130,000 former staff were affected, so roughly 86,000 of them have not been paid yet — that subtraction is ours, not theirs. Estimated total liability around $2.2b.
How to register: Register contact details on the portal, then employment validation with the district(s) you worked for, then bank verification. Payment tranches run from 27 August 2026 (16 districts) through October-December 2026 (including Capital & Coast and Waikato) to February-March 2027 (Canterbury, MidCentral, West Coast).
Status: Open — you can register

Health NZ's own remediation page

Ministry of Education — schools payroll (teachers and school staff)

Who it covers: Former and current employees across ~2,500 schools
Period: Employed any time since 1 March 2010
Scale: About 235,000 current and former employees across 550,000 roles; sector liability estimated around $503m.
How to register: No portal — email or ring with your name, school(s) and approximate dates. Former employees must make contact; payments are not automatic.
Status: Open — you can register

Ministry of Education — schools payroll (teachers and school staff)'s own remediation page

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)

Who it covers: Former and current employees on the Wellington payroll
Period: Employed July 2010 - May 2023
Scale: About 80% of staff in the period were affected.
How to register: Contact MFAT via the remediation page. Important: amounts unclaimed for more than six years were transferred to Treasury's unclaimed money service in February 2024 — if MFAT no longer holds yours, the Treasury register is the next stop.
Status: Open — you can register

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)'s own remediation page

Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Employed since 1 January 2011
How to register: Contact DIA through the remediation page with your employment dates.
Status: Open — you can register

Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)'s own remediation page

Department of Conservation (DOC)

Who it covers: Former employees
Period: Employed since May 2010
How to register: Use DOC's remedial payments page for past employees.
Status: Open — you can register

Department of Conservation (DOC)'s own remediation page

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)

Who it covers: Former employees
Period: See MPI's page for the covered period
How to register: Contact MPI via the remediation page for former employees.
Status: Open — you can register

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)'s own remediation page

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)

Who it covers: Former employees
Period: See the EPA notice for the covered period
How to register: Contact the EPA via its remediation notice.
Status: Open — you can register

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)'s own remediation page

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: See NZQA's page for the covered period
How to register: Register via NZQA's Holidays Act page.
Status: Open — you can register

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)'s own remediation page

Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO)

Who it covers: Former employees
Period: Six-year lookback per the PCO notice
How to register: PCO says it will make reasonable efforts to contact former employees; contacting them first is faster.
Status: Open — you can register

Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO)'s own remediation page

Education Review Office (ERO)

Who it covers: Former employees
Period: See ERO's page for the covered period
How to register: Contact ERO via its holiday pay remediation page.
Status: Open — you can register

Education Review Office (ERO)'s own remediation page

NZ Post

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Not published — contact them
How to register: A remediation programme has been publicly reported. Contact NZ Post payroll or HR and ask about Holidays Act remediation for your employment dates.
Status: Open — you can register

Other private employers with reported programmes (WSP, IHC, TSB, FIRST Security, Evolution Healthcare, and others)

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Varies by employer
How to register: Programmes at these employers have been publicly reported but details vary. Contact the employer's payroll or HR and ask specifically about Holidays Act remediation for your employment dates. If you worked irregular hours, overtime or received allowances, say so — those patterns are where the miscalculations concentrated.
Status: Open — you can register

Listed, but no open public channel — 2

These have run or are running remediation without a public registration page. Contact the employer's payroll or HR directly, and say you are asking about Holidays Act remediation.

New Zealand Police

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Not published
Status: No public registration page — contact them directly

Department of Corrections

Who it covers: Former and current employees
Period: Not published
Status: No public registration page — contact them directly

Not sure whether it applies to you?

The holiday pay check asks a few questions, tells you whether your dates fall inside the programme, and drafts the emails. It is free, and it will tell you when the answer is no.

Missing an employer? Tell us — an addition needs a source we can link to, which is the only reason this list is worth anything.