 | Christmas and New Year's Day this year fall on a Sunday. I understand that in this case, Tuesday becomes the public holiday. In my business,
the staff work on all three of these days. Do I have to pay them time and a half for the Sunday, or the Monday and Tuesday, or all three? |
|
First, determine which of the days would be a normal working day for the employee if it were not Christmas. Once determined, the following applies
- If the same staff member usually works all three days, Sunday are Monday
are the public holidays. For working those two days you pay time and a half, plus allow the two alternative holidays. For them, Tuesday is not a public holiday.
- If a staff member works just the Sunday and Monday,
or just the Monday and Tuesday, then in both these cases, both days are public holidays. Pay time and a half and allow a day in lieu for each day worked.
- If an employee usually works just the Sunday and Tuesday, then only the Sunday is
a public holiday. The Tuesday is not a public holiday for this employee, because the Tuesday only becomes a public holiday if the employee does not usually work on the Sunday.
-
If an employee would only usually work one of the days between Sunday and Tuesday, then irrespective of which day it is, it is to be treated as a public holiday.
This is covered by Section 45
which has changed the handling of the four public holidays at Christmas and New Year.
Section 45
Transfer of public holidays over Christmas and New Year
(1) For the purposes of this subpart, if any of the public holidays listed in
section 44(1)(a) to (d) (christmas and new year)
(a) falls on a Saturday and the day would otherwise be a working day for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on that day:
(b) falls on a Saturday and the day would not otherwise be a working day for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on the following Monday:
(c) falls on a Sunday and the day would otherwise be a working day for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on that day:
(d) falls on a Sunday and the day would not otherwise be a working day
for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on the following Tuesday.
(2) To avoid doubt, this section does not entitle an employee to more than 4 public holidays for the days listed in
section 44(1)(a) to (d) (christmas and new year).
|
What this section effectively says is
-
If the Christmas or New Year holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, and the employee normally works on a Saturday or Sunday, then the Saturday or Sunday are public holidays.
-
If an employee does not usually work on the Saturday or Sunday, then the public holidays are the following Monday or Tuesday.
The old Section 9 of the Holidays Act 1981, which the new
Section 45 has replaced, effectively meant that in the circumstances you describe, the Saturday and Sunday would never be public holidays, and the Monday and Tuesday always were.
Whilst this was fine in the old 40 hour five days a week business environment, it had some unusual side effects in today's 24/7 society. If an employee usually worked Saturday and Sunday, and never worked Monday and Tuesday, under the old
Act, the employee would have to work Christmas and Boxing day, receive no additional pay, and not be entitled to the Monday and Tuesday as public holidays.
It is this scenario that the new
Section 45 has endeavoured to correct. | |
52 week history not required
Holiday pay entitlements
Holidays Act 2003