Income for your employee while they recover
If we’re providing cover for your employee’s injury, and they need time off work or can’t work their normal hours or duties, we can help with their income.
They can receive income from you and us at the same time, which could mean they get up to 100% of their usual weekly earnings.
On this page
How employee payments work
We’ve created a guide which outlines how our weekly compensation works and what you need to do.
Employer’s guide to weekly compensation
Find out more about how weekly compensation works for your employee.
Getting paid if you can't work
Paying employees for the first week after injury
In the first week following injury, the employee can get income in different ways:
- if their injury happened at work, as their employer you’ll need to pay 80% of their regular income for the first calendar week. See how to calculate this in the employer's guide above
- if their injury happened outside of work, they may ask to use sick or annual leave to cover this time off.
After the first week of their injury
Your employee can request weekly compensation assistance. We’ll pay up to 80% of their income as weekly compensation if they can’t work or perform all their usual work activities.
Your employee may ask to use their annual or sick leave entitlements to top up their weekly compensation to 100% of their pre-injury income.
Topping up your employee’s income
We cover up to 80% of your employee’s income. Your employee can request to use their sick or annual leave entitlements to ‘top up’ their pay to bring earnings from 80% up to 100% of usual income, with no effect on their compensation from us.
Alternatively, some employers may choose to pay a 20% top-up from payroll, not the employee’s leave entitlements.
Top-ups will be taxed as a secondary source of income. If your employee receives income from both you and us, encourage them to check their tax code with Inland Revenue.
If your employee is back at work but working reduced hours
If an employee is at work while they’re recovering, they may do different tasks or hours compared to their usual role.
Your injured employee can receive income from both you and us at the same time, which could mean they get up to 100% of their usual weekly earnings. This is called abatement.
As their employer, you pay them for the hours they work. We then reduce (abates) the weekly compensation payment amount being paid to your employee based on the income they receive from you.
Your employee will need to confirm with us any form of income they’ve received from you each week.
Managing employee payments as part of a gradual return to work plan quick guide
There are some simple steps you can take to help an injured employee to recover at work. This benefits them and your business.
Find out how you can work with your employee, their health professional and us to make a recovery at work plan.
Understanding roles in recovery at work
What does my employee need to do?
Your employee will need to let us know if they're paid any taxable income, including for a public holiday, while they're getting weekly compensation so we can ensure that their payment is correct.
They can notify us via MyACC. If they haven't registered, they can call us or register for MyACC.
Phone 0800 101 996 (Monday to Friday, 8am - 6pm)
Public holiday payments
You generally won’t have to pay an employee for a public holiday while they’re receiving weekly compensation, but there are some exceptions. Visit the Employment New Zealand website to find out what your obligations are.
Contact us
You can contact the payments team or claims team:
Phone 0800 101 996 (Monday to Friday, 8am – 6pm)
Overseas +64 7 848 7400