2026 New Zealand election: guaranteed hours, casual work and sick leave

The key issue in your situation is income security: when your roster changes, can your employer reduce your hours and therefore your pay, even though your rent and household bills remain fixed?

For a couple renting and relying on variable rostered income, I would focus on three things when comparing parties:

1. Guaranteed hours: Can your employer reduce your shifts or hours without your agreement?
2. Casual employment: Are employers able to classify workers as casual when they actually work regular, ongoing rosters?
3. Sick leave: Do you retain meaningful paid sick leave if you work part-time, irregular hours or changing shifts?

There is an important distinction: having a variable roster does not automatically mean you are a casual employee. Under current New Zealand guidance, a person who has regular ongoing work and is rostered in advance may legally be a permanent employee, even if their hours change. Casual employment

1. Which parties favour stronger worker protections?

The clearest dividing line in the 2026 election is over whether to reverse the employment and leave changes made by the current Government.

Party	Direction on worker protections
Labour	Stronger protections Reverse several recent employment changes and restore leave entitlements.
Green Party	Stronger protections Oppose the new leave law and support broader worker protections.
Te Pāti Māori	Stronger protections Supports reversing several recent employment changes.
National	Retain current direction Supports the new leave legislation.
ACT	Retain current direction Supports the new leave legislation and generally favours employment flexibility.
NZ First	Retain current direction Does not support repealing the new leave legislation.
The Opportunities Party (TOP)	Mixed/unclear Does not support repealing the new leave legislation.

An important source here is the October 2026 employment policy scorecard from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. National and ACT declined to answer its industrial policy questions, so their positions on some issues are inferred from public statements and legislative history, rather than direct responses. Policy scorecards for working people NZCTU2026 Election Policy Summaries

2. What each party's position means for your circumstances

Labour

Labour is proposing to:

• Reinstate leave entitlements removed through the Government's employment legislation.
• Reverse the changes to the legal test for determining whether someone is an employee or contractor.
• Restore Fair Pay Agreements, allowing industry-wide minimum employment conditions to be negotiated.
• Make collective employment agreements the default, while retaining the option of individual agreements.
• Review employment law to improve job security and workers' ability to negotiate with the organisation that actually controls their work.

Potential benefit for you: Stronger bargaining power, better protection against insecure employment arrangements and a more protective approach to leave.

Trade-off: More employment obligations for businesses and potentially less flexibility for employers in arranging staffing. Fair Pay Agreements also take time to negotiate and implement.

Labour has not, in the policy material I found, made a specific new promise to guarantee a minimum number of hours for every worker with a variable roster. Fairer WorkplacesPolicy scorecards for working people NZCTU

Green Party

The Greens oppose the Employment Leave Act 2026 and support reviewing or reversing several of the Government's employment changes.

Their broader employment programme includes:

• Five weeks of annual leave.
• Stronger collective bargaining and union access.
• Fairer pay and employment conditions.
• Improved protections for workers in insecure employment.

Potential benefit for you: The Greens' approach is particularly relevant if you are concerned about losing income and leave entitlements because your working hours fluctuate.

Trade-off: More generous leave and stronger employment standards can increase employer costs. There is also the question of how quickly proposed changes could be implemented and how employers would respond.

2026 Election Policy SummariesPolicy scorecards for working people NZCTU

Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori supports:

• Reversing the recent employment changes identified in the NZCTU scorecard.
• Restoring Fair Pay Agreements.
• Reinstating the previous pay equity system.
• Repealing the Employment Leave Act 2026.

Potential benefit: A stronger worker-protection approach, particularly around leave, bargaining and employment security.

Trade-off: As with Labour and the Greens, the practical effect depends on the detail of legislation, implementation and the ability to secure parliamentary support.

Policy scorecards for working people NZCTU

National

National's approach is to retain the Employment Leave Act 2026 and the broader employment-law direction of the current Government.

The Government presents the new leave system as a simplification of complicated holiday and leave calculations.

Potential benefit: Employers may find the new system easier to administer, and the new law provides a defined framework for standard, additional and casual hours.

Trade-off: Workers with variable hours may have less favourable leave outcomes, particularly where some hours are treated as casual rather than standard hours.

Employment Leave Act 2026Employment Leave Act 2026Policy scorecards for working people NZCTU

ACT

ACT generally favours flexibility in employment arrangements and retaining the current legislative direction.

Its published employment-related proposals also include:

• Freezing the adult minimum wage for three years.
• Introducing a lower training wage for eligible workers under 20.
• Shortening the personal grievance time limit from three years to 90 days, except for sexual harassment cases.

Potential benefit: Employers may have greater flexibility and face fewer regulatory constraints.

Trade-off: Workers with limited bargaining power may have fewer protections when employment arrangements become unstable. The shorter grievance period is also relevant if you need to challenge an employer's decision.

2026 Election Policy SummariesPolicy scorecards for working people NZCTU

NZ First and TOP

These parties deserve separate consideration because their positions are not identical to National and ACT.

• NZ First: Does not support repealing the Employment Leave Act. It does support increasing the minimum wage above inflation over the next three years.
• TOP: Does not support repealing the Employment Leave Act, but supports reversing the recent pay equity changes.

Their positions on guaranteed minimum hours and specific protections against casualisation are less clearly established in the material I found.

Policy scorecards for working people NZCTU

3. Guaranteed hours and casual employment: what should you look for?

This is arguably the most important part of your question.

New Zealand already has some protections against zero-hours contracts. Employers generally cannot require you to be available for work without:

• A genuine reason based on reasonable grounds.
• An availability provision in your employment agreement.
• Reasonable compensation for being available.

Employers also have obligations when cancelling agreed shifts. Casual employmentEmployment Leave Act 2026

However, these rules don't necessarily guarantee you a minimum weekly income.

Consider this example:

Your household income scenario

Normal week

$1,200

Your weekly pay

Reduced roster

$650

Your weekly pay

Rent and bills

$850/week

Normal-week surplus

+$350

Reduced-week shortfall

−$200

Illustrative figures, not estimates of your actual income or expenses.

A guaranteed-hours employment arrangement could help prevent this problem by ensuring you receive an agreed minimum number of paid hours.

When assessing party policies, I would distinguish between:

• Protecting existing guaranteed hours.
• Preventing employers from using casual contracts to avoid employment obligations.
• Requiring minimum hours or compensation when shifts are cancelled.
• Requiring employers to pay for availability.

These are related but different protections. None of the major parties' headline policies I reviewed provides a clear, comprehensive new guarantee of minimum weekly hours for all rostered workers.

4. Sick leave: an especially important difference

There is a significant change that deserves your attention.

The Employment Leave Act 2026 has already passed into law. It is scheduled to replace the Holidays Act on 6 August 2028, unless a future Government changes it. Employment Leave Act 2026Employment Leave Act 2026

Under the current system:

• Eligible employees receive 10 days of paid sick leave annually.
• Eligibility generally begins after six months with the same employer, subject to the alternative hours-based test.
• Part-time employees can qualify for the same 10-day entitlement as full-time employees.

Under the new system:

• Sick leave accrues at 0.0385 hours for every standard hour worked.
• Additional hours and rostered hours can also qualify under specified conditions.
• Casual hours do not accrue sick leave under the new accrual system.

This distinction matters considerably for people whose working hours fluctuate.

For example, someone working 20 standard hours per week would accrue approximately 40 hours of sick leave over a year under the new system, compared with the current 10-day entitlement if eligible.

That is approximately one working week of 40 hours, rather than two.

The new system is more closely linked to hours worked, which its supporters see as a more proportional and administratively straightforward approach. Critics argue it disadvantages part-time and insecure workers.

Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori support repealing the new legislation. National, ACT and NZ First do not. TOP also does not support repeal. Employment Leave Act 2026Policy scorecards for working people NZCTUEmployment Leave Act 2026

5. Comparing the trade-offs

Here is how I would assess the parties against the issues you raised.

Your priority	Parties whose positions align most closely
Restore previous sick leave protections	Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori
Stronger collective bargaining	Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori
Restore Fair Pay Agreements	Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori
Retain the new leave system	National, ACT, NZ First, TOP
Greater employer flexibility	Generally National and ACT
Minimum wage increases above inflation	Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori, NZ First

This is a comparison of the specific policies, not a complete assessment of each party's economic programme. Policy scorecards for working people NZCTU2026 Election Policy Summaries

6. My assessment for a household relying on rostered income

I would put the greatest weight on three questions:

1. Can your household count on a minimum amount of income?

A party might promise better sick leave, higher wages or stronger unions, but those things don't necessarily prevent your employer from giving you fewer shifts.

A genuine guaranteed-hours policy would directly address that problem.

2. Will you receive fair leave entitlements despite variable hours?

This is where the Employment Leave Act debate is particularly relevant. If you work irregular hours, the distinction between standard, additional and casual hours could affect your entitlements.

3. Can you challenge unfair employment decisions?

Your ability to challenge an employer's treatment of your employment status, roster or working conditions matters when your financial commitments are fixed.

On the three issues you've identified, Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have the clearest overall alignment with stronger worker protections. National and ACT favour retaining more of the current framework. NZ First and TOP have mixed positions.

That doesn't automatically make one party the best choice: the cost-of-living, housing, tax and employment-growth implications of their wider policies also matter.

7. Where to check the original policies

These are useful independent and official resources:

• NZCTU – 2026 election worker policy scorecards
• APEX – 2026 party employment policy summaries
• Policy.nz – compare 2026 party employment policies
• Employment New Zealand – new Employment Leave Act

One question that could significantly change the comparison

You mentioned that your roster changes from week to week. The legal distinction between being a permanent employee with variable hours and being a casual employee is important here.

Are you and your partner currently employed on permanent contracts with changing rostered hours, or are either of you employed on casual contracts?

That would help me distinguish which proposed changes could actually improve your household's income security, rather than simply improve employment conditions in general.

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