Work out your public holiday pay

Employees covered by a relevant instrument*

An employee (other than a casual) who works on a public holiday is to be paid:

If ordinarily required to work on that day - their ordinary pay for the day plus time and a half for a minimum of 4 hours.
Example 1
An employee working 2 hours on a public holiday who normally works 8 hours on that day, would be paid 8 hours ordinary pay plus 4 hours at time and a half totalling the equivalent of 14 hours pay (i.e. 8 + [4 x 1½])
If not ordinarily required to work that day - at the rate of double time and a half for a minimum of 4 hours.

Example 2

An employee working 6 hours on a public holiday who does not normally work on that day, would be paid 6 hours at double time and a half totalling the equivalent of 15 hours pay (i.e. 6 x 2½)

If the employee is a casual - at the rate of double time and a half for a minimum of 4 hours (see Example 2 above)
If an employee who works outside their ordinary working hours - at double the rate stated in their award or agreement for such work

Example 3

An employee whose ordinary working hours under their award are from 8am to 5pm and who is required to work overtime until 10pm on a public holiday would, for the hours after 5pm, be paid triple time (i.e. 2 x 1½) when the rate would normally be time and a-half and quadruple time (i.e. 2 x 2) when the rate would normally be double time.

The Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) also permits an employer and employee to agree to pay ordinary rates for time worked on a public holiday in exchange for another day off on full pay.

Employees NOT covered by a relevant instrument*

For employees not covered by an award or agreement, the Act does not specify any entitlement to penalty payments for work on a public holiday. These workers would be entitled to ordinary pay for the number of hours usually worked, even if a lesser number of hours are worked on the public holiday. Any penalty rate entitlement would be a condition negotiated and agreed with their employer.

*Relevant instrument definition

In the Act 'relevant instrument' means any of the following:

(a) an industrial instrument;
(b) a federal award made or varied after 1 September 2005;
(c) a federal agreement made, varied or approved after 1 September 2005, other than a federal agreement if the application to certify the agreement was made on or before 1 September 2005.

Last updated: 02 November 2006

Public holidays

Work out your public holiday pay

Employees covered by a relevant instrument*

Employees NOT covered by a relevant instrument*

*Relevant instrument definition