The 2023/24 Christmas/New Year holidays are fast approaching.
Here are the Public Holidays coming up in December 2023 and January 2024:
December 2023
| Sunday 24 December 2023 Christmas Eve – (6 pm to midnight) | – Qld only |
| Sunday 24 December 2023 Christmas Eve – (7 pm to midnight) | – NT and SA only |
| Monday 25 December 2023 Christmas Day | – All states and territories |
| Tuesday 26 December 2023 Boxing Day | – ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, Tas, WA |
| Tuesday 26 December 2023 Boxing Day /Proclamation Day | – SA |
| Sunday 31 December 2023 New Year’s Eve – (7 pm to midnight) | – NT and SA only |
January 2024
| Monday 1 January 2024 New Year’s Day | – All states and territories |
| Friday 26 January 2024 Australia Day | – All states & territories |
If you need an employee to work on a public holiday, you need to pay the appropriate penalty rates.
Permanent employees get paid for a public holiday if it’s a day they would normally work. If a public holiday falls on a day a permanent part time employee would not normally work, they don’t get paid for the public holiday.
| For example: If an employee only works on a Wednesday, they wouldn’t get paid any public holidays in December 2023/January 2024. If a full time employee works Monday to Friday, they will get public holidays paid for Monday 25 December 2023, Tuesday 26 December 2023 and Monday 1 January 2024 over the Christmas period. |
You can’t change an employee’s roster to deliberately avoid payment of a public holiday. A lot of Awards require you to set the working days of a part time employee to ensure the payment of public holidays is clear based on the days an employee would normally work
A casual employee is not entitled to be paid for a public holiday if they don’t work, but will most likely be entitled to penalty rates if they work on a public holiday.
An employee may refuse their employer’s request to work on a public holiday on the basis that the request is not reasonable or if the employee’s refusal to work is reasonable. For example, if the employee has family commitments, that would be a reasonable request to not work on a public holiday.
There may be situations where an employee asks to substitute a public holiday for another day, for example another day of cultural or religious significance.
If you want a list of 2024 Public Holidays, click here for our 2024 Public Holidays Calendar.
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