An employer's obligations over the Easter period

With the year well and truly off to a steady start, Easter is readily approaching and is just around the corner. As public holidays fall around this Easter period, it is a great opportunity to consider how your practice will operate through this time. This Easter period, the following public holidays apply in Queensland:

• Good Friday – 2 April 2021
• The day after Good Friday – 3 April 2021
• Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021
• Easter Monday – 5 April 2021

Is an employee entitled to be absent on a public holiday?

Four public holidays are clustered during the Easter period.  We recommend, if you have not started doing so already to start speaking with your staff about how the private practice plans to operate during the Easter period.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), an employee is entitled to be absent on a public holiday and (if the employee is permanent i.e. not casual) to be paid for any of his or her ordinary working hours which fall on the holiday.

The entitlement applies when the day or part-day is a public holiday in the place where the employee is based for work purposes.

Can an employer request that an employee work on a public holiday?

Under the NES, an employer may request an employee to work on a particularly public holiday if the request is reasonable.  However, the employee may refuse a request to work on a public holiday if the refusal is reasonable.

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) requires employers to fact in the following when determining whether a request, or a refusal of a request, to work on a public holiday is reasonable:

• the nature of the employer’s workplace or enterprise (including its operational requirements), and the nature of the work performed by the employee;
• the employee’s personal circumstances, including family responsibilities;
• whether the employee could reasonably expect that the employer might request work on the public holiday;
• whether the employee is entitled to receive overtime payments, penalty rates or other compensation for, or a level of remuneration that reflects an expectation of, work on the public holiday;
• the type of employment of the employee (for example, whether full‑time, part‑time, casual or shiftwork);
• the amount of notice in advance of the public holiday given by the employer when making the request;
• in relation to the refusal of a request—the amount of notice in advance of the public holiday given by the employee when refusing the request;
• any other relevant matter.

Do the Nurses Award and the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2010 (HPSS) allow for substitution of certain public holidays?

Under both the HPPS Award 2020 and the Nurses Award 2010 an employer and employee may agree to substitute another day for a day that would otherwise be a public holiday.

Does the Award contain a provision that deals with an employee’s public holiday falling on a day off?

The HPSS Award 2020 is silent on this. 

The Nurses Award 2010 requires that all permanent full-time employee will receive a day’s ordinary pay for public holidays occurring on their rostered day off. The exception to this rule is that Monday to Friday employees do not receive ordinary pay where the public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday. The rationale is that the employee would not normally work on a weekend.

What is an employee entitled to be paid on a public holiday under each Award?

Under the HPPS Award 2020, an employee is entitled to 250 per cent of the minimum hourly rate* applicable to their classification and pay point for all time worked.  See our Rates of Pay sheet.  

*Do not forget the casual loading for casual employees who will receive 275 per cent of the minimum hourly rate (the ‘part-time column’ in our Rates of Pay sheet)

Under the Nurses Award 2010, an employee is entitled to 200 per cent of the employee’s minimum hourly rate*, this includes where the employee does an ordinary shift on a public holiday, including a substituted day.

*Do not forget the casual loading for casual employees who will receive 225% of the minimum hourly rate (the ‘part-time column’ in our Rates of Pay sheet).

Other options

1. Where a nurse works extra hours to accumulate into an accrued day off and the public holiday falls on this day, please contact us at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au for specific advice.
2. A time off in lieu day may also be taken by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee in writing at the time the public holiday is worked.  The employee would be paid at ordinary time on the public holiday and then take leave for the same number of hours worked accrued on another agreed day but please contact us at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au for specific advice.