As you may know, an employee is entitled to up to five sick days a year. If this leave is unused it will be carried over to the next year. Also, if an employee is sick on a public holiday, this will not come out of their sick leave.
As you may also know, if an employee is injured in an accident that prevents them from working, they are entitled to weekly compensation from ACC. If an employee satisfies the ACC eligibility requirements, they can receive up to 80% of what they earnt prior to their injury.
Who pays what?
ACC do not pay for the first week off work. Instead, if the injury occurred outside of the workplace, the employer will pay for this week. This will come out of your sick leave and the usual rules of sick leave payments will apply. Alternatively, if the injury occurred in the workplace, the employer is legally obliged to pay for this week. This cannot come out of your sick leave or annual leave.
After the first week, ACC will pay up to 80% of the employees’ wages prior to the injury or accident. The employer is under no obligation to, but can “top up” the payment to 100%. This can be done gratuitously. Otherwise, the employee and employer can agree that one day of sick leave can be taken for every five days off work to “top up” the ACC payments.
