HOLIDAY PAY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 44, 1 December 1938, Page 5

HOLIDAY PAY

PAYMENT OF BONUSES GRANTED

SUSTENANCE AND RELIEF MEN. DETAILS OF THE SCHEME. (Per Press Association ) WELLINGTON, This Day. Arrangements authorised in connection with the granting of Christmas and New Year holidays and payment of a Christmas bonus to recipients of relief have been announced by the Minister of Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong). Ho said that the bonus will be £2 for married men and £l,for single men, payable to all those men who actually received relief or are engaged under one of the undermentioned schemes in the week ending December 3, 1938: (a) Scheme No. 5 workers employed on a rationed basis, i.e., less than 40 hours a week.

(b) Men in receipt of sustenance and sickness allowances.

(c) Gold prospectors, including men and youths employed on developmental work other than those employed fulltime (40 hours a. week or more) at standard rates of pay. (d) Scheme 4a workers on their own farms.

(e) Men receiving sustenance allowances under the small-farm scheme.

The bonus for youths employed on the gold-prospecting scheme will be 15s. All men who actually received relief assistance (including sick pay or compensation) under one of the above mentioned schemes in the week ending December 3 are entitled to receive the bonus. This will include those recipients of sustenance who in ordinary circumstances would qualify but who on account of excess earnings in the previous week do not actually receive any relief in the week ended December 3. The bonus will still be payable although the worker may not have continued to receive relief after the week ending December 3. Any person who registers and becomes eligible for relief for the first time after the week ending December 3 is not eligible to receive the bonus. Any person who reregisters and becomes eligible for relief in any of the weeks ending on December 10, 17 and .24 is eligible to receive the bonus if he had actually been in receipt of relief under one of the above mentioned schemes at any time within a period of three months of December 3.

In addition to the Christmas bonus, the Government has decided that all workers employed on the undermentioned schemes will be granted two weeks’ paid holiday" in respect of the weeks ending December 31 and January 7. (a) Scheme No. 5 workers employed on a rationed basis.

(b) Gold prospectors employed under Scheme 15, including those on developmental work except where they are employed at full time at standard rates of pay.

(c) Workers employed in clerical or other capacities in local body offices, relief depots, etc.

Other Concessions.

The Minister said it had been decided that no declarations of earnings would be required from recipients of sustenance in respect to the weeks ending December -24 or 31, and any private earnings in either of these two weeks would be entirely ignored when assessing their future allocations. Somewhat similar concessions had been arranged in respect to the No. 5 Scheme workers. In regard to those full time subsidised standard works where the Department provides a full wage subsidy, the works would be closed down for the weeks ending December 31 and January 7. The men would be paid the holiday pay they were entitled to receive under governing awards or agreements based on their service up to December 31. If, in any such case, awards or agreements provide for lower payments over the Christmas period by way of holiday payments than the men would receive by way of full sustenance, according to their conjugal classification, for two weeks Arrangements would be made to make up the difference to the workers concerned. Workers employed full time at standard rates on the gold-prospecting scheme and men employed under control of county councils on the ragwort eradication scheme would be treated in the same manner as regards the holiday concession as workers employed on fulltime standard works where the Department provides the full wage subsidy.

Arrangements have also been made in respect to men employed by individual farmers on eradication of ragwort, workers employed full time on .subsidised standard works where .the Department’s subsidy represents only a portion of the weekly wages, employees of sports bodies, charitable institutions and men who have gone off relief to become freezing works employees.

Similar transport concessions as applied last year would be granted to men employed under the gold prospecting scheme.