Public holidays

 An employee is entitled to any one of the following alternatives as decided by the employer: 

• a paid day off on the holiday itself; or 
• a paid day off within a month; or 
• an extra day's annual leave; or 
• an extra day's pay 

Payment in respect of a public holiday includes any regular bonus or allowance normally paid to the employee but excludes payment for overtime. 

According to the Act, employees who are absent from work immediately before the public holiday will not be entitled to benefit from the public holiday if their absence is one of the following: 

(i)      an absence in excess of 52 consecutive weeks by reason of an occupational injury, 

(ii)     an absence in excess of 26 consecutive weeks by reason of an illness or injury (not occupational), 

(iii)    an absence in excess of 13 consecutive weeks caused by a reason not including injury or illness but being an absence authorised by the employer, including lay off, 

(iv)    an absence by reason of a strike, 

(v)     an absence due to carer’s leave (after the first 13 weeks of the leave has elapsed) 

(vi)    an absence due to health and safety leave under the Maternity Protection Act 1994 and 2004 

Employees on maternity leave, additional maternity leave, parental leave, force majeure leave, or adoptive leave maintain their public holiday entitlement for the duration of their absence. 

Employees, other than those employed on a part-time/casual basis, have an immediate entitlement to public holiday benefits.  Part-time/casual employees qualify for public holiday entitlement provided they have worked at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks ending on the day before a public holiday. 

Job-sharing nurses/midwives who work Monday to Friday and who do not normally work on the day on which the public holiday falls are entitled to one-fifth of their normal weekly pay for the public holiday. 

Part-time nurses/midwives who work Monday to Friday and who do not normally work on the day on which the public holidays falls are entitled to one-fifth of their normal weekly pay for the public holiday. 

To calculate your public holiday entitlement divide your weekly hours by 5.  For example, if you work 24 hours each week you are entitled to 4.8 hours for each of the 9 public holidays.  In addition, if you are employed in the public health service and you are required to work on a public holiday you will receive double time for all hours worked on the public holiday. 

If the employee ceases to be employed during the week ending on the day before a public holiday, having worked during the 4 weeks preceding that week, he/she is entitled to receive pay for the public holiday.