This was done despite the government subsidising sick leave for employees who needed time off to recover from COVID-19 and were unable to work.43 According to the government, employment types to meet their subsidy threshold included casual, fulltime, part-time, fixed-term and seasonal workers. This covered a broad range of employment types including that of the Pacific workers with whom we engaged. During the talanoa, one Pacific worker shared how her mother’s employer deducted annual leave for the sick days she took to recover from COVID-19. Eventually, the situation was rectified, but only when the mother confided in her daughter, who swiftly advised her that this was improper and followed up with her mother’s employer to have the situation corrected. One Pacific worker shared her mother’s experience questioning their employer’s actions during the COVID-19 outbreak as a suspected breach of Pacific workers’ rights: My mum was calling her workplace, and they were like “oh, we have to use your sick leave”, and my mum came in and she’s like “oh man, I have to use my sick leave, it’s 10 days”… We were the ones who sort of got it first in Gisborne, so like, back then, it was quite fresh and nothing had fallen into place, and there was not enough talanoa about it to know what’s out there for people to access. Fortunately for me, I’m on salary, but with my mum, she was getting a bit stressed. She was thinking mortgage, she was thinking about all the other bills that she had in her head … She already used most of her sick leave so she’s like how the 43 hell am I going to provide? And I was like what do you mean? You don’t have to use your sick leave. And she’s like ‘no’ … They sent her like a full lengthy email that my 52-year-old mother who had studied in Tonga reads the first paragraph and she was over it. And I was like “man, these Palangi are good”, they’ll send you a lengthy email and at the bottom they’ll state fine line, fine print … So I call [her employer] and say sorry but I am pretty sure that there’s that leave subsidy, and the lady over the phone was like “I’m sorry I never heard of it, let me talk to my managers”, and I was like, yeah, can you please talk to them because I am looking at it online … and it says it’s already available for people to access. That was 10am, and by 12pm she called me and said sorry she didn’t know, and I said thank you, I’m glad we sorted that, and just hung up. (T009) This same person was able to be an advocate for her mother with her employer. Based on this experience, she believes there needs to be advocacy for Pacific workers – “a perfect example of people needing advocacy is my mum” (T009). Education about employment rights Pacific peoples repeatedly told us that they wanted to learn more about their rights to avoid situations where they were exploited. Many participants proposed that solution – “education around our rights, anything with education” (T009). Some participants felt that it was the government’s job to ensure all workers were educated about their rights. One Pacific worker commented that “the government must ensure that the law protects the rights of ALL workers” (T001). Work and Income New Zealand – Te Hiranga Tangata. “COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme.” Accessed August 25, 2022. https:// www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/leave-support-scheme/index.html#:~:text=The%20COVID%2D19%20Leave%20 Support%20Scheme%20is%20paid%20at%20the,than%2020%20hours%20a%20week. Voices of Pacific peoples 55