As an employee, what are my entitlements in relation to public holidays?

Most employees are entitled to paid leave on public holidays. There is an exception for certain part-time employees.

If you qualify for public holiday benefit, you are entitled to one of the following:

A paid day off on the public holiday
An additional day of annual leave
An additional day's pay
A paid day off within a month of the public holiday

You can ask your employer at least 21 days before a public holiday, which of the alternatives will apply. If your employer does not respond at least 14 days before the public holiday, you are entitled to take the actual public holiday as a paid day off.

Q. As a part-time worker, what is my entitlement in relation to Public Holidays?

You are entitled to a day's pay for the public holiday if you have worked for your employer at least 40 hours in the five weeks before the public holiday and the public holiday falls on a day you normally work.
If you are required to work that day you are entitled to an additional day's pay in lieu of the day off.
If you do not normally work on that particular day, you should get one-fifth of your weekly pay. Even if you are never rostered to work on a public holiday, you are entitled to one-fifth of your weekly pay as compensation for the public holiday.

Q. This year Christmas falls on the weekend. What does that mean for my entitlement to time off for public holidays?

A. This year, each of the three upcoming public holidays fall on a weekend day:

Christmas Day, Saturday December 25
Saint Stephen’s Day, Sunday December 26
New Year’s Day, Saturday January 1

When a public holiday falls on a day which is not a ‘normal working day’ for that business (for example, on Saturday or Sunday), you are still entitled to benefit from that public holiday.

For example, you may get an extra day of annual leave, or an additional day's pay, or a paid day off within a month of the public holiday. However, you do not have any automatic legal entitlement to have the next working day off work.
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