Public Holiday Pay Calculator
Enter your base hourly rate (the permanent rate from your payslip or award, before any casual loading), the hours you work on the day and your award. The award rate is read from the award’s own penalty table.
- Public holiday rate (225%)
- $62.57/h
- Pay for 8 hours on the public holiday
- $500.56
- Same hours on an ordinary weekday
- $222.48
- Extra for working the public holiday
- $278.08
- If you don't work it and would normally be rostered
- $222.48
Full-time and part-time employees who normally work that day are paid their base rate for their ordinary hours even when they have the day off (Fair Work Act s 116).
Before tax. Minimum shift lengths, overtime and allowances are not included. All General Retail Award rates · Take-home pay after tax
Public holiday penalty rates by award
The public holiday rate for hours worked, as a percentage of the award’s minimum hourly rate, under the 27 awards this site publishes full rate tables for. Figures are read from each award’s penalty table (rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026). Casual figures include the 25% casual loading.
| Award | Full-time / part-time | Casual | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged Care AwardMA000018 · cl 23, 26.1 and 29.2 | 250% | 275% | Permanent employees can elect each year to have the hours added to annual leave instead of the extra 150% (cl 29.2(b)). |
| Building and Construction AwardMA000020 · cl 30.1 and cl 12.5–12.6 | 250% | 275% | |
| Cleaning AwardMA000022 · cl 20.2, Table 7 | 250% | 275% | Part-time employees are paid 265% because their 15% part-time allowance applies too (cl 10.2). |
| Clerks AwardMA000002 · cl 24 and Schedule B.3.1 | 250% | 275% | Paid for at least 4 hours when required to work a public holiday (cl 24.4(d)). |
| Commercial Sales AwardMA000083 · cl 19, cl 25.3–25.4 and Schedule A | 250% | 275% | |
| Electrical AwardMA000025 · cl 20.4 and Schedule B.2.1 / B.3.1 | 250% | 312.5% | |
| Fast Food AwardMA000003 · cl 21, Table 6 | 225% | 250% | Casuals 250% (the 225% plus the 25% loading). |
| General Retail AwardMA000004 | 225% | 250% | |
| Hair and Beauty AwardMA000005 · cl 23, Tables 14 and 15 | 250% | 250% | Casuals are paid 250% — the same as permanent staff. The 25% loading is not added (Table 15). |
| Health Professionals AwardMA000027 · cl 26, cl 33.2 and Schedule C | 250% | 275% | Casuals are paid 275%, the 250% plus the 25% loading (Schedule C.2.3). |
| Horticulture AwardMA000028 · cl 13.2, 13.3(d) and 27.3–27.4, and Schedule B.2–B.3 | 200% | 225% | |
| Hospitality AwardMA000009 · cl 29.2(b), Table 14 | 225% | 250% | |
| Legal Services AwardMA000116 · cl 21.3 and 21.4, Schedule B.1 and B.2 | 250% | 275% | |
| Live Performance AwardMA000081 · cl 21.5, cl 63.3(c) and cl 63.4 | 200% | 225% | |
| Manufacturing AwardMA000010 · cl 33 | 250% | 312.5%(250% of casual rate) | Casual rate is 250% of the casual hourly rate (cl 33), which is 312.5% of the minimum rate. Minimum 3 hours for day workers. |
| Mining AwardMA000011 · cl 21 and Schedule B.1.3 / B.2.3 | 250% | 312.5%(250% of casual rate) | Casual rate is 250% of the casual hourly rate (Schedule B.2.3), which is 312.5% of the minimum rate. |
| Miscellaneous AwardMA000104 · cl 20 and Schedule A.1.1 / A.2.1 | 250% | 250% | |
| Nurses AwardMA000034 · cl 20.2, 21 and 28.2 | 200% | 250%(200% of casual rate) | Casual rate is 200% of the casual hourly rate (cl 28.2), which is 250% of the minimum rate. Christmas Day on a weekend attracts an extra 50% in 7-day businesses (cl 28.2(b)). |
| Pastoral AwardMA000035 · cl 35.5 and Schedule B.2.1 / B.2.4 | 200% | 225% | |
| Pharmacy AwardMA000012 · cl 22.3, Table 6 | 225% | 250% | |
| Plumbing AwardMA000036 · cl 23 and Schedules C.1.3–C.1.7, D.1.3–D.1.7 | 250% | 275% | |
| Real Estate AwardMA000106 · cl 25.3 and Schedule B.1.1 / B.2.2 | 200% | 250%(200% of casual rate) | |
| Restaurant AwardMA000119 · cl 24.2, Table 8 | 225% | 250% | By agreement a permanent employee can take 125% plus a day added to annual leave or a day off within 28 days instead (cl 24.4(d)). Minimum engagement 4 hours (permanent) or 2 hours (casual). |
| Road Transport AwardMA000038 · cl 22.3, 22.8, 22.10, 23 and Schedule C | 250% | 275% | Day workers get 150% on top of the weekly wage for hours worked (effectively 250%), and 200% on top (300%) on Good Friday and Christmas Day; casual day workers 275% and 325% (cl 23.2). |
| SCHADS AwardMA000100 · cl 34.2 | 250% | 275% | The award says "double time and a half". Public holiday pay replaces weekend rates and shift loadings (cl 34.2(b)). |
| Security AwardMA000016 · cl 20.2, Table 7 | 250% | 275% | |
| Timber AwardMA000071 · cl 27 and Schedule D | 250% | 275% | Casual 275% is tabulated for the General Timber stream only (cl 27.1(d)); the award prints no casual public holiday rate for the other two streams. Minimum 3 hours. |
Most awards simply add the 25% casual loading to the permanent public holiday rate. Two do not: the Manufacturing and Nurses awards express the casual rate as a percentage of the casual hourly rate, so it compounds, and the Hair and Beauty Award pays casuals the same 250% as everyone else. If you’re on an enterprise agreement, its rate replaces the award’s. Pick “Enterprise agreement” in the calculator and enter it.
Paid for a public holiday you don’t work
Every employee has the right to be absent from work on a public holiday (Fair Work Act s 114). If you are full-time or part-time and the holiday falls on a day you would normally work, you are paid your base pay rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked (s 116).
- The base rate excludes penalty rates, loadings, allowances, bonuses, incentive payments and overtime. Overtime you usually work that day is not paid.
- Your employer can’t change your roster to avoid paying for the public holiday.
- A part-timer who doesn’t normally work that weekday gets nothing for it. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s example is a Monday-to-Wednesday employee who is not paid for a Friday Boxing Day.
- Casuals are not paid for a public holiday they don’t work.
Being asked to work a public holiday
Your employer can ask you to work a public holiday, but the request must be reasonable. You can refuse if the request is unreasonable or you have reasonable grounds. Whether a request or a refusal is reasonable depends on:
- the nature of the workplace, and your role and the type of work you do
- your personal circumstances, including caring responsibilities
- whether you are full-time, part-time or casual
- whether you could reasonably expect to be asked to work public holidays
- any overtime, penalty rates or other payment you’d receive
- how much notice you were given, and any other relevant factor.
If the request is reasonable and you refuse unreasonably, you can be required to work. Once you do work, the award or agreement rate in the table above applies to every hour, and many awards set a minimum paid shift (for example 4 hours under the Clerks Award).
Public holidays during annual leave, sick leave and long service leave
A public holiday that falls on one of your normal working days while you are on paid annual leave or sick leave is paid as a public holiday and is not deducted from your leave balance. Ten days of annual leave that include a Monday public holiday use nine days of leave. Public holidays during unpaid leave, such as unpaid parental leave, are not paid. Long service leave is set by each state’s law, so whether a public holiday extends it depends on where you work. See the long service leave calculator for your state’s rules, and the annual leave guide for the rest.
Substitute days and additional days
Two different things get called a substitute day. The first is set by the state: when Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day lands on a weekend, most states declare an additional weekday public holiday. That day is a real public holiday for pay, and in most states the weekend day stays a public holiday too. Each state page below lists them.
The second is agreed at work. An award or enterprise agreement can let you and your employer agree to swap a public holiday for another day. Award and agreement-free employees can agree to a swap directly with their employer (Fair Work Act s 115). The substitute day is then paid as the public holiday and the original day is an ordinary day. Some awards also offer a trade instead of the full rate. The Restaurant Award lets a permanent employee take 125% plus a day added to annual leave or a day off within 28 days, and the Aged Care Award lets employees elect to have the hours added to annual leave.
Part-day public holidays
Queensland makes Christmas Eve a public holiday from 6pm to midnight. South Australia and the Northern Territory do the same for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve from 7pm. Only the hours inside that window are paid at the public holiday rate, so an evening shift can change rate halfway through. Enter just the hours after the start time in the calculator, and work out the rest at your usual rate.
Pay guides for the biggest holidays
The rules above apply to every public holiday. These guides add the dates by state, the part-day and extra-day rules and a worked example for the days people ask about most: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Eve, Easter 2027, Australia Day 2027 and Melbourne Cup Day. For the full 2027 calendar with the pay for each day, see public holidays 2027, and for how a Christmas closure affects your leave, the Christmas shutdown and annual leave guide.
Public holiday dates by state, 2026 and 2027
The public holiday rate only applies on a day that is a public holiday where your job is based, not where you happen to be working. A Melbourne-based employee sent to Sydney is still paid for Melbourne Cup Day. Each state page lists every 2026 and 2027 date from that state government’s own page, plus regional and part-day holidays and the state’s own pay rules.
| State or territory | Whole-day holidays 2026 | Part-day holidays |
|---|---|---|
| NSW public holidays | 13 | None |
| VIC public holidays | 14 | None |
| QLD public holidays | 12 | Christmas Eve (6pm to midnight) |
| WA public holidays | 13 | None |
| SA public holidays | 13 | Christmas Eve (7pm to midnight), New Year's Eve (7pm to midnight) |
| TAS public holidays | 9 | None |
| ACT public holidays | 15 | None |
| NT public holidays | 13 | Christmas Eve (7pm to midnight), New Year's Eve (7pm to midnight) |
Whole-day counts include additional days for holidays that fall on a weekend. They leave out holidays that apply in only part of the state, such as show days.
Checking the public holiday on your payslip
- Find the pay period that covers the holiday. Hours you worked on the holiday usually appear on their own line, marked public holiday or paid at 2.25 or 2.5 times your ordinary rate, rather than inside ordinary hours.
- Multiply those hours by your base rate and the percentage for your award above, or use the calculator. Casuals should see one public holiday rate with the loading already in it, not the loading on top.
- If you had the day off and it was a normal working day, check you were paid your ordinary hours for it and that it wasn’t taken out of your annual leave.
- If the numbers don’t match, raise it with payroll first. The back pay calculator totals what you’re owed, and the payslip guide explains every other line.
Public holiday pay is ordinary income for tax. It is taxed through PAYG with the rest of your pay. See your net figure in the take-home pay calculator, or the overtime pay calculator if you work past your ordinary hours on the day.
Public holiday pay questions
How this page is sourced▼
Public holiday percentages are read from the site’s award constants, which were transcribed from the Fair Work Commission’s consolidated award texts and apply from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Where an award prints the casual rate as a percentage of the casual hourly rate, it is converted to a percentage of the base rate so all 27 awards compare on one scale. The rights and pay for not working come from the Fair Work Ombudsman’s public holiday pages and the Fair Work Act 2009 ss 114–116.
Every date on the state pages was read from that state or territory government’s own public holidays page on 24 September 2026. Each date is stored with the text the government prints, and automated tests check the day, month and weekday against it. Dates a government has not yet published are marked as not yet published rather than estimated.
Sources & References
- 1Not working on public holidays— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 2Public holiday penalty rates— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 3Public holidays (working outside your state or region)— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 4Fair Work Act 2009, sections 114–116— Federal Register of Legislation
Last verified: 24 September 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Anita Bell
AuthorFounder & Senior Bookkeeper
Accountancy degree (2015); certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One
Anita Bell earned her accountancy degree in 2015 and has worked as a senior bookkeeper with Prime Bookkeeping for over 5 years. This built her skills in Australian and New Zealand tax legislation and industry regulations. She is certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One, and works with payroll and rostering software including Gusto, Deputy, Tsheets and KeyPay. She has strong experience in hospitality, building and construction, financial services, real estate, ecommerce, and medical and health services.
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