Melbourne Cup Day 2026 pay: Tuesday 3 November public holiday rates

Melbourne Cup Day date, 2026 and 2027

Melbourne Cup Day is the first Tuesday in November. It is a Victorian public holiday only. No other state or territory has it, and Business Victoria lists it as statewide unless a non-metropolitan council has arranged a local holiday instead.

Regional Victoria: local holidays that replace Melbourne Cup Day (2026)

In these council areas the local holiday below is the public holiday instead of Melbourne Cup Day. If your job is based there, the public holiday rate applies on the local day, and Tuesday 3 November is an ordinary working day. Business Victoria adds councils during the year as they confirm their dates.

Only councils Business Victoria had listed by its 3 August 2026 update are shown. The 2027 list has not been published yet. Source: Victorian non-metropolitan public holidays 2026 (Business Victoria).

Who gets the Melbourne Cup Day public holiday

The test is where your job is based. If you work in metropolitan Melbourne or in a Victorian council area that hasn't swapped, Tuesday 3 November 2026 is a public holiday for you. If your job is based in an area that has a replacement local holiday, that local day is your public holiday and Melbourne Cup Day is an ordinary working day.

It does not depend on where you are standing that day. The Fair Work Ombudsman's example is a Melbourne-based employee working in Sydney on Melbourne Cup Day, who still gets the Victorian public holiday entitlement. A Sydney-based employee working in Melbourne that day does not.

Melbourne Cup Day pay rates

It is a full public holiday under Victoria's Public Holidays Act, so the award public holiday rate applies to every hour worked. Hospitality and retail workers earn 225% of the base rate if full-time or part-time and 250% if casual, the casual figure already containing the 25% loading. Across the 14 awards on this site the permanent range is 200% to 250%.

Many Melbourne Cup Day workers are in hospitality: pubs, clubs and restaurants run big days around the race. If you are casual, remember you are paid only for the hours you work, and a permanent employee who normally works Tuesdays but is not rostered still gets the day's base pay.

Worked example: a 6-hour hospitality shift on Melbourne Cup Day

Entry-level adult hospitality and retail rates from 1 July 2026, 6 hours worked on Tuesday 3 November 2026, compared with the same hours on an ordinary Tuesday.

Before tax. Excludes overtime, allowances and minimum shift lengths such as the hospitality minimum engagement.

If you have Melbourne Cup Day off

A full-time or part-time employee whose normal week includes Tuesday is paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked on 3 November. Penalty rates, loadings, allowances and overtime are not included. Your employer can't change your roster to avoid the payment, and a part-timer who doesn't normally work Tuesdays is not paid for it.

In an area where the council has swapped the holiday, the same rule applies on the local day instead, and Tuesday 3 November is paid as an ordinary day.

Cup Day and annual leave

A common arrangement is a long weekend built by taking Monday 2 November as annual leave. Only the Monday costs a day of leave: Tuesday 3 November is a public holiday for a Victorian-based employee who normally works Tuesdays and is paid as one, not deducted from the leave balance.

Melbourne Cup Day 2027

Melbourne Cup Day 2027 is Tuesday 2 November. Business Victoria's 2027 list shows it as a statewide public holiday. The non-metropolitan council swaps for 2027 have not been published yet, so the regional table above covers 2026 only. Check Business Victoria's non-metropolitan page again once it is updated.

More holiday pay guides

Every public holiday is paid by the same rules, but the dates, extra days and part-day windows differ. The public holiday pay guide has the full 14-award rate table, and each state page lists that state’s own days.

Melbourne Cup Day pay questions