Do You Have To Work On A Public Holiday In Australia? Employer Obligations

Public holidays can be great for business (think: busy trading periods and extra foot traffic) - but they can also be a legal minefield if you’re rostering staff, changing hours, or trying to keep costs under control.

As a small business owner, you’re often balancing a few competing priorities at once: keeping your doors open, meeting customer demand, and staying compliant with the Fair Work rules that apply to your team.

So, do you have to work on a public holiday? The answer is: sometimes - and whether someone can be required to work depends on the employee’s role, their Award or enterprise agreement, their employment contract, and whether the request is “reasonable” under the Fair Work Act.

Below, we’ll walk you through how public holiday work rules generally operate in Australia, what counts as a reasonable request, and practical steps you can take to roster confidently (and reduce the risk of disputes later).

What Are The Main Rules About Working On A Public Holiday In Australia?

Most Australian employees have an entitlement to be absent from work on a public holiday (unless they are reasonably requested to work and they reasonably refuse).

From an employer perspective, the key point is this: public holidays aren’t automatically a “no work” day. You can ask an employee to work - but you need to be able to justify that request as reasonable, and you must pay the employee correctly based on the applicable industrial instrument (Award or enterprise agreement) and their employment type.

In practice, the “rules” for public holiday work come from a few places:

• The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (National Employment Standards / NES) - these apply to most employees.
• Modern Awards - set minimum conditions for many industries and roles (including public holiday penalty rates, minimum shift lengths, notice requirements, etc.).
• Enterprise agreements - if you have one, it may override the Award in certain ways.
• Employment contracts - should align with the above and can clarify expectations (for example, for a manager role that includes public holiday work).

If you’re unsure what applies to a particular employee, it’s often worth checking their classification under the Award and ensuring their Employment Contract lines up with what you actually need operationally.

Public Holidays Vary By State And Territory

Public holidays are not identical across Australia. States and territories have different holidays (and sometimes different dates for the same holiday).

If you operate across multiple locations (or employ remote staff), you’ll want a clear internal process for:

• tracking which public holidays apply to which staff; and
• making sure payroll settings (penalty rates / entitlements) are applied correctly for each location.

Do You Have To Work On A Public Holiday If Your Boss Asks?

This is where the rules get a bit more nuanced.

Under the Fair Work Act, an employee is generally entitled to be absent on a public holiday. However:

• an employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable; and
• an employee may refuse the request if the refusal is reasonable.

So if you’re asking whether you have to work on a public holiday, the more practical small business question is:

Is your request reasonable in the circumstances, and is the employee’s refusal reasonable?

There isn’t a single “magic factor”. Instead, you look at the overall context.

What Makes A Request “Reasonable”?

When assessing whether a request is reasonable, common considerations include:

• the nature of your business (for example, hospitality and retail often trade on public holidays, while some office-based businesses may not);
• the employee’s role and responsibilities (a manager may be expected to cover peak periods more often than a junior employee);
• the employee’s personal circumstances (such as caring responsibilities, religious observance, or safety concerns);
• how much notice you gave before the public holiday shift;
• the employee’s usual working pattern (are they normally rostered on that day?);
• whether the employee is compensated properly (penalty rates or time off in lieu if permitted); and
• the amount of disruption to your business if the employee does not work.

A request can be reasonable even if the employee doesn’t want to work - but the less notice you provide and the less operational justification you have, the harder it is to show reasonableness.

What Makes A Refusal “Reasonable”?

Similarly, a refusal may be reasonable depending on:

• genuine personal commitments that can’t easily be changed;
• the employee’s health or safety;
• insufficient notice; or
• other legitimate grounds.

From a risk management perspective, it’s usually better to treat public holiday rostering as a planning issue rather than a disciplinary issue. If you anticipate needing staff, build that expectation into your workforce strategy early (and document it properly).

How Should You Approach Public Holiday Rosters As A Small Business?

Public holiday rostering works best when it’s predictable, transparent, and consistent.

Even when you’re legally entitled to make a reasonable request, you’ll reduce friction (and reduce the risk of complaints) if you build a clear system that staff can understand.

1) Check The Applicable Award Or Agreement First

Many Award-covered employees are entitled to:

• public holiday penalty rates if they work;
• minimum engagement periods (for example, minimum hours for casual shifts); and
• specific rules about shift changes and notice.

If your Award has strict timing rules for roster publication or changes, make sure your managers and rostering staff are trained on those rules (especially around public holiday weeks).

It can also be useful to have a written employee rostering process so your business approach is consistent across shifts and venues.

2) Give Clear Notice (And Keep Records)

In busy periods, it’s tempting to lock in shifts late. But late rostering can create legal and employee relations problems.

Where possible:

• publish rosters earlier than “minimum required” under the Award;
• confirm shifts in writing (email or rostering app); and
• document any changes and the reason for them.

As a general compliance habit, it helps to understand shift change notice expectations and align your internal practice with your legal obligations.

3) Be Careful When Cancelling Public Holiday Shifts

Another common trap is scheduling staff for a public holiday and then cancelling at the last minute if trade is slow.

Whether you still owe payment (and how much) will depend on the employee’s engagement type and the specific terms of the applicable Award or enterprise agreement - for example, some instruments include minimum engagement, rostered-off or cancellation/change-of-roster provisions that may apply even if the shift doesn’t go ahead.

If your business sometimes needs to reduce or cancel shifts, consider setting expectations in a clear policy and checking your compliance against the relevant guidance on shift cancellation policy.

4) Think About Staffing Strategy (Not Just Individual Shifts)

If public holiday trading is essential to your revenue (for example, hospitality, tourism, events, or retail), you’ll often get better results by planning your staffing model around it.

For example:

• hire a pool of employees who genuinely want public holiday shifts;
• rotate public holiday work fairly across a team (where possible);
• use volunteers for public holidays (only if they are genuinely volunteers - not employees); and
• make public holiday expectations clear at onboarding.

This is also where well-drafted employment documentation makes a practical difference, because it reduces the “surprise factor” when a public holiday roster comes out.

How Do Public Holiday Pay Rates Work (And What Else Might You Owe)?

Public holiday pay is one of the most important compliance risks for employers - because underpayments can add up quickly, and small payroll mistakes can become big problems if repeated across a team.

What you must pay depends on the employee’s status and the applicable Award/enterprise agreement.

Full-Time And Part-Time Employees

For full-time and part-time employees, public holiday entitlements often work like this:

• If the public holiday falls on a day they would normally work and they do not work, they are generally entitled to be paid their base rate for their ordinary hours.
• If they do work, they may be entitled to penalty rates (often a higher rate), depending on the Award or agreement.

Be cautious with “all-in” salaries. If you pay a salary intended to cover penalties, you need to make sure it genuinely does (and that the arrangement is legally structured and tracked properly). Otherwise, a public holiday work pattern can create underpayment exposure.

Casual Employees

Casuals are commonly paid a casual loading instead of many leave entitlements, but public holiday penalties can still apply if they work the public holiday (again, depending on the Award or agreement).

If a casual does not work on a public holiday, they typically won’t be paid for it (unless the Award/agreement says otherwise).

Because casual shift expectations can be a frequent source of tension, it’s worth aligning your approach with your legal position on casual employee notice and ensuring your rostering and cancellation practices are consistent.

Alternative Arrangements: Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) Or Substituted Days

Some Awards and enterprise agreements allow alternative arrangements such as:

• time off in lieu (TOIL), where an employee works a public holiday and takes another day off instead; or
• substituted public holidays, where you and the employee agree to treat another day as the public holiday.

Whether (and how) you can use TOIL or a substituted day depends on the specific terms of the applicable Award or enterprise agreement, and in some cases may require particular agreements in writing and rules about when the time off must be taken.

If you’re considering these arrangements across your team, it’s a good moment to check whether your contracts and policies are doing the job you need them to do.

What If An Employee Refuses To Work On A Public Holiday?

Refusals can happen for genuine reasons - and the best outcome is usually one where you keep the business running without escalating the issue into a workplace dispute.

If an employee refuses to work, your first step should be to:

• check whether your request was likely reasonable (notice, business need, compensation, employee circumstances);
• ask the employee why they’re refusing (don’t assume it’s a “no” for no reason);
• see if there’s an alternative solution (swap shifts, shorter shift, different employee); and
• document what happened and what you decided.

Can You Take Disciplinary Action?

Potentially - but this is where things get sensitive. If the employee’s refusal is reasonable, disciplinary action may expose you to unnecessary legal risk (including adverse action claims if the refusal relates to a workplace right).

Even where a refusal seems unreasonable, it’s usually safer to approach the issue through a fair process (clear communication, warnings where appropriate, and consistent treatment across the team).

If you’re dealing with repeated refusals, conflict about public holiday rosters, or concerns that expectations were never clear in the first place, it may be time to review your employment documentation and policies as a whole (rather than treating each public holiday as a one-off crisis).

What Policies And Documents Help You Manage Public Holiday Work Properly?

Public holiday disputes often come down to a simple problem: expectations weren’t clear, or the business didn’t have a consistent process.

While you can’t “contract out” of employee minimum entitlements, the right documents can help you manage public holiday work lawfully and predictably.

Depending on your business model, consider whether you need:

• Employment Contract: clarifies hours, role expectations (including any requirement to work on weekends/public holidays where lawful), and pay structure. For many businesses, a tailored Employment Contract is the foundation for reducing roster disputes.
• Casual Employment Contract: sets expectations around casual work patterns, availability, and shift acceptance (while staying compliant with the Award and Fair Work rules). This is especially useful where public holiday trading is common.
• Workplace Policies: a staff handbook or standalone policies that cover rostering, shift swaps, shift cancellations, and expectations about high-demand trading periods.
• Payroll and record-keeping procedures: internal processes to ensure penalty rates and public holiday payments are applied correctly, and records are kept if a dispute arises later.

It’s also worth remembering that rostering obligations don’t exist in isolation. They sit alongside broader obligations around breaks, hours of work, and workplace safety - all of which can become more challenging during public holiday peak periods.

Key Takeaways

• In most workplaces, whether an employee has to work on a public holiday depends on whether the employer’s request is reasonable and whether any refusal is reasonable, taking into account the specific circumstances.
• Public holiday pay rates and entitlements are heavily influenced by the applicable Award or enterprise agreement, so you should check these before rostering and before processing payroll.
• Good public holiday rostering is usually about planning and consistency: publish rosters early, keep written records, and avoid last-minute changes where possible.
• Changing or cancelling shifts around public holidays can trigger additional obligations under some Awards and enterprise agreements (and the rules can differ significantly), so your rostering and cancellation practices should align with the relevant instrument.
• Clear documents and policies (especially a well-structured Employment Contract) help set expectations early and reduce the chance of public holiday disputes later.

If you’d like help setting up your rostering processes, reviewing your Award coverage, or updating your Employment Contracts and workplace policies for public holiday trading, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.