Find out how to prepare your payroll for Easter so your staff will only be treasure hunting for chocolates this long weekend.
Updated: January 2024
In this article
When are the public holidays over Easter?
There are two public holidays over Easter. This year, Easter Friday is celebrated on 29th March and Easter Monday is on 1st April.
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Note: Easter falls over the end of the financial year this year. Keep this in mind if you need pay funding and pay days to fall within the same financial year.
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Easter Sunday, 31st March is not a public holiday.
Public holiday entitlements do not apply to staff working on this day.
Do I need to make changes to my payroll?
Friday 29th March (Good Friday) can be a pay day, however Saturday 30 March and Tuesday 2nd April are not available pay days in our system. Additionally, depending on your plan, your pay day and your payment method, you may need to adjust your pay to ensure it arrives on time.
Use the table below to find out if you need to make any changes to your payroll:
Pro tip: If you want to pay your employees on Tuesday 2nd April, please get in touch to use our urgent same-day service for an additional charge of $15.
Employer obligations
Some of your employees might work on Easter Friday or Easter Monday public holidays, or take the paid days off. This will impact how you enter their timesheets. Find out how to enter public holidays on employee timesheets.
If your employee works on a public holiday, you are required to pay them ‘time and a half’ or 1.5 times their standard rate for hours worked this day. If the public holiday is an otherwise working day for this employee, you’ll also need to allocate a full day of alternative leave to their leave balance.
Reminder: Easter Sunday, 31 March is not a public holiday so public holiday entitlements do not apply to staff working on this day.
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Did you know: For more information on public holidays and your obligations as an employer, check out our Public Holidays Guide or visit the Employment New Zealand website.
Feeling stuck?
Our friendly payroll experts are just an email or a phone call away. Thankyou Payroll will be closed over Easter, but we will be back on Tuesday the 2nd April from 8:30 am to 5 pm.
Email us at help@thankyoupayroll.co.nz, or call us on 04 488 7531 for professional, one-on-one guidance.
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