What is owed when work ends.

At least fifteen days’ pay for each completed year of service, under section 40(1)(g) of the Employment Act. The employee is also owed leave not taken in cash and at least one month’s notice or a month’s wages in lieu.

It depends on how often wages are paid. Daily-paid contracts end without notice; weekly or fortnightly pay needs one pay period; monthly pay needs 28 days. A longer notice period in the contract applies instead. Either side may pay the notice period rather than work it.

This calculator divides monthly pay by 30, the approach most commonly applied. Some contracts and payrolls use 26 working days, which gives a higher daily rate; you can switch to it.

Before. PAYE and statutory deductions still apply to most of these payments, and anything owed to the employer, such as an outstanding loan, may be set off under the Act.

For misconduct, poor performance or physical incapacity, section 41 of the Employment Act requires the employer to explain the reason it is considering, in a language the employee understands, in the presence of a fellow employee or a shop floor union representative the employee chooses, and then to hear and consider what they say before deciding. Redundancy instead follows section 40: a month’s written notice to the union, or to the employee and the labour officer, and due regard to seniority, skill, ability and reliability in selection.

Under section 45 a termination is unfair unless the employer proves both a valid and fair reason and a fair procedure, and section 47(5) puts proving the reason on the employer. Where the Employment and Labour Relations Court finds a termination unfair, section 49(1)(c) lets it award compensation of up to twelve months’ gross wages. That is a ceiling set by statute and the award is the court’s discretion, guided by the factors in section 49(4). A claim must be brought within three years under section 90.