Termination Essentials

NZPPA Certificate in Payroll Termination Essentials (Level 4)

What is notice?

Notice is a time period agreed between the employer and employee (usually found in the employee's employment agreement) to advise that one party wants the employment relationship to end.

Currently, there is no standard notice period in.

In payroll we can see a wide range of notice periods that have been agreed, and we administer them when the employee decides to leave or when they are terminated for a range of other. If there is no period of notice in the employee's employment agreement or the parties (employer and employee) cannot agree, case law implies a term of reasonable notice. While out of payroll’s scope, hopefully, we will get the outcome of any process to resolve this.

Here are the common types of notice that payroll will come across and administer:

Notice when worked Notice paid in lieu

• • •

Redundancy

• Termination based on a disciplinary

Notice when worked The notice when worked situation for payroll is when an employee informs their employer that they are moving on from their present position with their employer.

The employee provides notice based on what was agreed in their employment agreement.

This allows their present employer to get coverage for the soon-to be-vacated position (recruiting for a replacement or using internal resources). This should be seen as a standard part of the employee life cycle.

© New Zealand Payroll Practitioners Association, Mar 2026, Ver 9

73