Public holiday clause for an Australian employment contract

Sample clause

Written for part time employment contract for a pharmacy assistant at Merri Creek Pharmacy Pty Ltd, a fictional Melbourne pharmacy, working Wednesday to Friday.

Public Holidays. (a) The Employee is entitled to be absent on a public holiday. If a public holiday falls on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, the Employee is paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked that day. (b) The Employer may ask the Employee to work on a public holiday, giving as much notice as possible and at least 14 days' notice for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. (c) The Employee may refuse the request if it is not reasonable, or if the refusal is reasonable, having regard to section 114(4) of the Fair Work Act 2009. (d) Hours worked on a public holiday are paid at the public holiday rate in the Award. (e) A public holiday falling on a day the Employee does not normally work carries no payment and does not change the Employee's pattern of hours.

Sample wording, not legal advice.

Variants

What to negotiate

• Reasonable request, reasonable refusal

  Section 114 lists the factors for deciding whether a request to work, or a refusal, is reasonable: the nature of the workplace and the work, the employee's personal circumstances including family responsibilities, whether the employee could expect the request, whether they are paid a penalty rate or loading, the type of employment, the notice given and the notice of refusal. A hospital and a law firm will reach different answers.

• Part time patterns

  Part time employees are paid for a public holiday only if it falls on a day they would normally work. An employer must not change a roster to avoid paying for a public holiday. Recording the agreed pattern, as the sample does, makes it clear which holidays are paid.

• Penalty rates and loadings

  The NES gives the right to the day off and the base rate for it. The pay for working on a public holiday comes from the award or agreement, often double time or more, and for casuals the loading is added. The clause should point to the award rather than restate figures that change.

The risk of leaving it out

A contract silent on public holidays still leaves the employee with the NES rights, but invites disputes about whether a part time employee is paid for a holiday, whether a refusal to work was reasonable, and which rate applies. Underpaid public holiday hours are a common finding in Fair Work Ombudsman audits.

The NES rules

Under section 114 of the Fair Work Act 2009, an employee is entitled to be absent on a public holiday, and an employer may request, on reasonable grounds, that the employee work. Under section 116, an employee absent on a public holiday is paid at their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked. Public holidays are the national days in the Act and those declared by each state and territory, so the list differs between states. Law checked on 21 October 2026. This page explains how the law works and is not legal advice.

Days that move

When a public holiday falls on a weekend, states often declare a substitute or additional day on the following Monday, and the Fair Work Ombudsman lists the public holidays in each state each year. An employee who does not work weekends may get the substitute Monday as a paid day off. Awards and agreements may also let employers and employees agree to swap a public holiday for another day, as the substitution variant does.

The sample's three cases

The pharmacy assistant works Wednesday to Friday. If Anzac Day falls on a Thursday, she is paid her base rate for the hours she would have worked and stays home, unless she agrees to a reasonable request to work, in which case she is paid the award's public holiday rate. If Australia Day falls on a Monday, she is not paid for it, because she would not have worked that day. If she is asked to work Christmas Day with two days' notice, her refusal is very likely reasonable.

Where the clause sits in a generated document

Employment contracts, part time agreements and casual agreements carry a public holiday clause beside leave. When asking the AI document generator for one, give the employee's days, the notice for requests to work, the award that sets the rate and any substitution arrangement.

Documents that carry this clause

Part time employment contract template with set hours and pro rata leaveA part time employment contract template has to do something a full time contract does not: fix the regular days and hours in writing, because Australian awards require it for part time staff, and show how every leave entitlement is scaled to those hours. This one does both for a bookseller working 24 hours over three days.Employment contractA full time ongoing contract for an operations coordinator on $86,000 plus $10,320 of superannuation. Eleven numbered clauses, a leave table drawn from the National Employment Standards, and a notice table that scales with service.Casual employment agreementA retail assistant is paid $34.00 an hour, which is a base of $27.20 plus a twenty five per cent loading. The agreement shows how every other rate is built from that base, and what the loading is paid instead of.

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