Public holidays - answering your questions

With the Kings Birthday Public Holiday and Christmas/New Year just around the corner, there's a lot of public holidays coming up. You might have some questions about staff leave over this period - we've done our best to provide answers below.

What do I pay my staff who aren’t working on a public holiday? 
Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), an employee is entitled to be absent from his or her employment on a day or part-day that is a public holiday. If the public holiday falls on a day a full-time or part-time employee has normal ordinary hours of work, they are entitled to be paid their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked had it not been a public holiday. Casual employees who are not rostered to work on a public holiday do not receive payment for this day. 
 
What happens when a public holidays falls on a day a staff member would normally work but they are already on annual leave? 
Public holidays are a separate entitlement to any other type of leave. If an employee is on a period of sick or annual leave and a public holiday occurs during this period of time, the employee should be paid for the day of the public holiday as usual and the accrued leave entitlement they are using should not be used for that day or debited back to them if it was.  

If an employee is rostered to work on the public holiday, what rate do I pay them? 
The applicable modern award to your practice staff outlines what the appropriate rate of pay for public holidays are. Clause 32.2 of the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 states any employee required to work on a public holiday will be paid 250 per cent of the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point for all hours worked.

The Nurses Award 2020 has additional conditions.  

Clause 28.2 Payment for work done on public holidays
This clause outlines that all work done by an employee during their ordinary shifts on a public holiday, including a substituted day, will be paid at 200 per cent. i.e. Full-time and part-time employees will receive 200 per cent of the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point. A casual employee will receive 200 per cent of the casual hourly rate.

Clause 28.4 Public holidays falling on rostered days off 
All full-timers will receive a day’s ordinary pay for public holidays that occur on their rostered day off except where the public holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday with respect to Monday to Friday employees.

Clause 28.5 Accrued days off on public holidays 
Where an employee’s accrued day off falls on a public holiday, another day or part-day, determined by the employer, will be taken instead. Where practical the alternative day off will be taken within the same four or five-week work cycle. 

Clause 28.6 Additional leave days by mutual agreement 
For part-time and full-time employees, instead of being paid 200 per cent of the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point under the award, where the employer and employee mutually agree in writing at the time the public holiday is worked, an employee may be paid their ordinary rate of pay for time worked on a public holiday and have the same number of hours worked accrued to be taken as leave. This leave may be taken in conjunction with a period of annual leave.  

Can an employee refuse to work a public holiday? 
You are able to ask an employee to work on public holidays if the request is reasonable. However, an employee has the right to refuse a request to work if they have reasonable grounds. 

Upcoming public holiday dates
Monday 2 October – The Kings Birthday
Monday 25 December – Christmas Day
Tuesday 26 December – Boxing Day 
Monday 1 January 2024 – New Years Day 
Friday 26 January 2024 – Australia Day

	Workplace Relations Support  Workplace Relations Support can help you with any questions you may have with what to pay your staff on public holidays coming up in the future. You can contact us via phone (07) 3872 2222 and email support workplacerelations@amaq.com.au.
	Workplace Relations Toolkit Workplace Relations Toolkit provides its subscribers with up to date information about entitlements in regards to pay rate increases and public holiday payments for your practice. It also comes with a range of policy templates, in particular, leave policies, which will assist with dealing with bulk leave applications during these holiday periods.
	Workplace Relations Consultancy Workplace Relations Consultancy can review your current processes with regards to staff payments or perform back payment calculations where staff may have been paid incorrectly in the past.