"Covid-19: Airline crew 'very anxious, worried' as redundancies loom", 26 March 2020

Air New Zealand stands accused of borderline legal treatment of thousands of workers in lockdown over Covid-19.

It has told its workers they must take all their leave soon, a move a union says is not in the spirit of the law.

[...]

Air New Zealand has got a near government loan bailout but still aims to cut perhaps 30 percent of its 12,500 staff.

...E tū assistant national secretary Rachel Mackintosh said..."[f]or the next two weeks, everybody will just be paid as normal,"....

"And then after two weeks, they want people to take all available leave for everybody who isn't required to carry on with essential work."

[...]

"If people use up all their leave now when they actually don't want a holiday, then it's an issue. It's probably marginally legal because you can give two weeks' notice of annual leave - but [only] when you've tried to work with people on a suitable time for them to take leave and failed."

[...]

Air New Zealand did not respond to a request for comment.

[...]