When you’re running a business, you’re constantly balancing people, productivity, and compliance. So it makes sense that a question like “Should I give my employees paid leave to get a COVID-19 vaccination?” can feel surprisingly tricky.
The short version is: there isn’t a single “one size fits all” legal rule that forces every NZ employer to provide paid vaccination leave in every situation - but there are legal obligations around health and safety, good faith, and fair process that often make it a smart (and low-risk) move to support staff to get vaccinated.
This is the updated guidance for current expectations and workplace practices, and it’s written to help you make a decision that’s practical, legally safe, and consistent across your team.
Do I Have To Give Paid Leave For A COVID-19 Vaccination In New Zealand?
In most workplaces, there’s no general law that automatically requires you to provide additional paid leave specifically for COVID-19 vaccinations.
That said, your obligations don’t start and end with “is there a special leave type for vaccinations?”. In practice, what you do need to think about is:
- Your employment agreements (some businesses include special leave, wellness leave, or paid medical appointment provisions).
- Any relevant collective agreement (if you have one).
- Your good faith obligations under the Employment Relations Act 2000 (how you communicate and implement decisions matters).
- Your health and safety duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (you must take reasonably practicable steps to ensure health and safety).
- How consistent and fair your approach is across employees and roles.
Even where there’s no strict legal requirement to provide paid vaccination leave, it can still be the best risk-management choice - especially if:
- employees can’t reasonably book appointments outside working hours
- your workplace has higher exposure risk (e.g. customer-facing, health, aged care, close-contact services)
- you want to reduce the chance of staff coming to work unwell after a vaccination
- you’re trying to lift vaccination rates as part of your health and safety controls
One more thing: if you’re thinking of “handling it informally”, it’s worth pausing. Informal arrangements can work, but if they’re inconsistent (or poorly communicated), they can create employee relations issues quickly. Getting the approach right early can prevent arguments later.
What Are Your Options For Vaccination Time Off (Paid And Unpaid)?
There are a few common ways NZ employers handle vaccination appointments. The right option depends on your industry, hours of work, staffing levels, and what your employment documents already say.
Option 1: Paid Time Off (Special Vaccination Leave)
This is the simplest approach: you tell staff they can take (for example) 1–2 hours paid time off for the appointment, and you treat it as paid work time.
Why many businesses prefer this:
- It encourages vaccination uptake (which can reduce disruption later).
- It avoids messy debates about leave types.
- It’s easy to administer if you set clear boundaries (e.g. evidence, reasonable notice, limits per dose).
If you’re adding this as a formal entitlement, it’s often best to reflect it in your Workplace Policy so it’s consistent and easy to apply.
Option 2: Paid Sick Leave (If They’re Unwell After The Vaccination)
Vaccination appointments themselves aren’t automatically “sick leave”, but side effects can be. If an employee is unwell after their vaccination and would otherwise have worked, they may be able to use sick leave (assuming they meet eligibility and have sick leave available under the Holidays Act 2003).
As an employer, you can generally ask for evidence in some situations (for example, if the sick leave is for 3+ consecutive calendar days, or if you have a legitimate reason and you cover the reasonable cost of getting proof). The key is applying your approach consistently.
Option 3: Annual Leave
Some employees may offer to take annual leave to attend a vaccination appointment. That can be okay - but it’s usually not ideal if you’re trying to make vaccination access easy.
Be careful about directing employees to take annual leave. Employers can require employees to take annual leave in some circumstances, but there are rules around notice and process. If you’re unsure, it’s worth checking guidance around annual leave directions before you take that route.
Option 4: Unpaid Leave Or Unpaid Time Off
If paid time off isn’t workable for your business, you can consider unpaid time off by agreement - particularly where the appointment can reasonably be booked outside rostered hours or where your business genuinely can’t accommodate paid time off.
If you go down this path, the “make or break” issue is good faith and consistency. If some employees get paid time off and others don’t (without a clear business reason), it can lead to grievances or allegations of unfair treatment.
Option 5: Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) Or Flexible Hours
Where your workforce has variable hours or overtime arrangements, you could agree to swap hours - for example, the employee attends a vaccination appointment during the day and makes up the time later that week.
If you do this, make sure it’s properly tracked and agreed. A casual “just make it up later” arrangement can turn into disputes about what was worked and what was owed. If you’re using this approach regularly, it helps to align with your time off in lieu approach and keep written records.
How Do Health And Safety Duties Affect Whether You “Should” Offer Paid Leave?
Even if there’s no universal rule requiring paid vaccination leave, health and safety law often influences what a reasonable employer does.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, you have a primary duty (as a PCBU) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers while they’re at work.
In a practical sense, that means you should be thinking about questions like:
- What is the risk of infectious disease transmission in our workplace?
- Are workers in close contact with the public, vulnerable people, or each other?
- What controls do we have in place (ventilation, hygiene, staying home when unwell, remote work, PPE, etc.)?
- Is supporting vaccination part of our control plan?
- Is paid time off a reasonably practicable step to support that control?
A useful way to think about it is this: if vaccination (or being up to date with vaccination) is part of your workplace risk controls, then creating barriers to access (like “only do it in your own time”) might undermine that control.
This doesn’t automatically mean you must provide paid leave in every case - but if you decide not to, you should be comfortable explaining why your approach is still reasonable and fair given:
- your operating hours and staffing constraints
- the ability to book appointments outside working hours
- the risk profile of your workplace
- what you offer for other medical appointments
If you’re updating your broader approach to employee wellbeing (for example, wellbeing days or mental health initiatives), you might also want to ensure your policies are aligned across the board. Some employers build vaccination support into a wider leave framework similar to how they approach a mental health day - the goal being a clear, consistent rule, rather than ad hoc decisions.
This is where employers can accidentally create legal risk - even when you’re trying to do the right thing.
Vaccination status is health information, which is generally considered sensitive personal information. If you collect it, store it, use it, or share it, you need to do so carefully and only for a legitimate purpose.
Good privacy practice usually includes:
- Collecting only what you actually need (don’t over-collect “just in case”).
- Explaining why you’re collecting it and what you’ll do with it.
- Limiting access (e.g. only HR/management who need to know).
- Storing it securely and not keeping it longer than necessary.
If your business collects employee health information or uses systems that hold sensitive information, having an Employee Privacy Handbook can make a big difference. It sets expectations, reduces confusion, and shows you’ve taken privacy compliance seriously.
Depending on your business, you may also need to ensure your wider privacy compliance is in order - for example, if you also collect customer information through online bookings or health declarations. A clear Privacy Policy is often a foundational piece of this.
Avoid Discrimination And Keep A Fair Process
Vaccination decisions can intersect with protected grounds under the Human Rights Act 1993 (for example, disability/medical conditions, religion, or family status). That doesn’t mean you can never set health and safety requirements - but it does mean you need to:
- avoid making assumptions about why someone is unvaccinated
- give employees a genuine opportunity to explain their circumstances
- consider reasonable accommodations where appropriate
- apply rules consistently, based on role risk and business needs
If your approach is heavy-handed, inconsistent, or poorly communicated, you can end up facing personal grievances for disadvantage or unjustified dismissal. Usually, the strongest protection is having a clear policy, consulting early, and documenting your reasoning.
How Do You Put A Practical (And Legally Safer) Approach In Place?
Once you’ve decided what you want to offer, the next step is making sure it’s easy to apply consistently - and that employees understand what’s available.
Step 1: Decide What You’re Offering And Define The Boundaries
Before you announce anything, lock in the rules internally. For example:
- Will the time off be paid or unpaid?
- How much time will you allow (e.g. up to 2 hours, half a day, etc.)?
- Does it cover travel time?
- Do employees need to try to book outside peak business hours?
- Do they need to provide proof of appointment (and if so, what kind)?
- Does it apply to boosters as well as initial doses?
Clarity here is what prevents awkward “why did they get it but I didn’t?” conversations later.
Step 2: Put It In Writing (Policy And Employment Documents)
If you want this to be part of your ongoing workplace settings, you’ll usually document it in a policy (or an update to your existing handbook).
If you don’t have strong employment documentation in place yet, it’s worth reviewing your foundation documents too. A well-drafted Employment Contract can clarify:
- hours of work and flexibility expectations
- how leave is requested and approved
- what happens if someone is unfit for work
- how you deal with workplace health and safety requirements
The benefit of writing it down is that you can apply it consistently and reduce misunderstandings. The risk of not writing it down is that managers start improvising - and that’s where inconsistency (and legal risk) creeps in.
Step 3: Communicate Early And Consult Where Appropriate
Under NZ employment law, you generally need to act in good faith. That means being communicative and not blindsiding employees with changes that could affect them.
If you’re introducing a vaccination leave benefit, employees are unlikely to object - but you should still communicate clearly:
- what the entitlement is
- how to request it
- what evidence (if any) is needed
- who to speak to if they have concerns or can’t be vaccinated
If you’re implementing broader health and safety measures (especially anything that could restrict work, change duties, or impact pay), get tailored advice before rolling it out.
Step 4: Train Your Managers (Consistency Is Everything)
Many employee issues aren’t caused by the “rule” - they’re caused by inconsistent decisions on the ground.
Make sure anyone approving leave understands:
- what they can and can’t ask about an employee’s health
- how to respond if an employee says they can’t be vaccinated
- how to apply the same process across the team
You’ll want to keep basic records showing that leave/time off was approved and paid (if applicable). But avoid storing extra health information unless you truly need it.
Often, you can record something simple like “paid leave – medical appointment” without storing detailed vaccination documents, unless your workplace has a legitimate reason to verify vaccination status for the role.
Key Takeaways
- In New Zealand, there usually isn’t a blanket legal requirement to provide extra paid leave specifically for COVID-19 vaccinations, but your employment agreements and workplace arrangements may create obligations.
- Even where it’s not strictly required, paid vaccination leave can be a practical way to support health and safety, reduce disruption, and avoid employee relations issues.
- You can manage vaccination time off in different ways, including paid special leave, sick leave for side effects, annual leave (by agreement), unpaid leave, or flexible hours/time off in lieu.
- Your health and safety duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 mean you should consider whether supporting vaccination access is a reasonably practicable step for your workplace risk profile.
- Vaccination status is sensitive health information, so you should be careful about what you collect, why you collect it, who can access it, and how it’s stored under the Privacy Act 2020.
- A clear written policy and well-drafted employment documents help you apply rules consistently and reduce the risk of misunderstandings or personal grievances.
If you’d like help setting up (or updating) your workplace policies or employment documents so you’re protected from day one, you can reach us at 0800 002 184 or team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.
