About 300 NZPFU members have not received 1.5 times the overtime rate for working on Public Holidays in 2026.

NZPFU members raised the incorrect payments with the Union including responses from FENZ that had listed the incorrect public holiday table that was deemed unlawful as a result of the NZPFU taking the matter to the Employment Relations Act and successfully defending FENZ’s appeal in the  Employment Court in 2022.

FENZ have explained that a patch tool was implemented into the payroll system to comply with the law of paying 1.5 times the relevant rate, including 1.5 times of the  overtime rate when working overtime, for the hours worked on public holidays as well as record a day in lieu.  

That patch tool expired in December 2025 and as a result the system has reverted to the incorrect rate. FENZ should have had a system in place for extending the patch until the issue is resolved permanently.

FENZ have identified the affected employees who will receive an email shortly explaining the issue and the remedy.  The outstanding wages will be paid in the next payroll and the email to affected members will explain how it will be dealt with in the payslip.

Members should receive the corrected payments in the coming pay round.

Members are advised to check their payslips for the period from 1 January 2026 to date and if there is an issue and they do not receive a correction in the next pay period to contact payroll directly.

There are still a plethora of outstanding other issues including calculations affected by the 2022 NZPFU settlement, and a long-term systemic failure to properly calculate sick leave. 

No one in FENZ has been held accountable for the $1.6 million paid for licensing for an unusable HR system or the $60 million wasted in an abandoned new payroll system that was supposed to be in place in April 2024.

Last year FENZ faced scrutiny from Parliaments Governance and Administration Committee for the wastage and failure to get a reliable payroll and HR  system in place.

Reports of the scrutiny included:

“In the interim, you advise that you have already paid $1 million for licensing and are expending a further $650,000 per annum in licensing costs for the unusable HR system,” the committee noted.

Software licensing for enterprise resource planning systems typically began during design and development, rather than upon go-live, F&E said.

“These licenses often do not allow for termination for convenience,” it said. “As the HRIS system has been built and holds Fire and Emergency data, it remains under license and maintenance.

“When the payroll system goes live, the total licensing cost for the HRIS system while in a ‘to be tested’ state will be $1.2 million.”

In unity,
Wattie Watson
National Secretary