The Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) (the Act) provides a public holiday entitlement for all employees. Some types of employees are excluded from these provisions (e.g. a casual employee 
or pieceworker ).
The Act states that an employee who would ordinarily be required to work on a day on which a public holiday falls is entitled to full pay for the time they would have worked on that day. This entitlement applies whether the employee works on the public holiday or does not work because the day is a public holiday.
Casuals, pieceworkers, school based apprentices or trainees and employees rostered off on the public holiday have no entitlement in the Act to payment for a public holiday that they have not worked. In many awards and agreements employees who are rostered off on a public holiday must be given another paid day off in lieu; have another day added to their annual leave; or an additional day's wages.
Where the rate of wages is a weekly rate double time and a-half shall mean one and a half days wages in addition to the prescribed weekly rate, or pro rata if there is more or less than a day. Many, but not all, awards and agreements also include such a provision in their public holidays clause.
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations) 2006
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