Christmas and New Year 2026: planning shifts around the public holidays

For most of the businesses we supply, the busiest stretch of the year runs straight through the public holidays. Distribution centres are clearing Christmas orders, then Boxing Day sales and returns land on top. That's exactly when a roster built on assumptions falls over: people you were counting on say no, the wage bill comes in higher than budgeted, or a site in one state runs to a different calendar from a site in another.

None of this is hard if you plan it in October rather than mid-December. Here's what the 2026 calendar looks like, what the rules say about asking people to work, and how it works when your extra hands are on-hired through an agency.

The 2026 calendar has a quirk

Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, which means Boxing Day falls on a Saturday. Most states and territories deal with that by adding a public holiday on Monday 28 December.

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list:

• ACT, NSW, NT, Queensland, Victoria and WA list Friday 25 December (Christmas Day), Saturday 26 December (Boxing Day) and Monday 28 December as an additional public holiday for Boxing Day.
• South Australia lists Friday 25 December, Saturday 26 December as the Proclamation Day holiday, and Monday 28 December as an additional public holiday for it.
• Tasmania lists Christmas Day on Friday 25 December and Boxing Day on Monday 28 December, with no Saturday holiday on that list.
• New Year's Day 2027 is a Friday.

There are also part-day holidays to watch. Queensland lists Christmas Eve from 6 pm to midnight. The Northern Territory and South Australia list Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve from 7 pm to midnight. If you run an evening or night shift on 24 or 31 December in those places, part of it falls on a public holiday.

The practical upshot: if your site runs seven days, the Christmas weekend could mean three public holidays in four days. If you run Monday to Friday, you still lose two weekdays in the one week. Either way, you need fewer assumptions and more confirmed names on the roster.

Two more things from the FWO that catch people out. Each state sets its own holidays, and some have regional ones, so check the official list for every location you operate. And an employee is entitled to the public holidays where they're based for work, not where they happen to be working that day. Moving someone interstate for the week doesn't move their holiday.

You can ask. They can say no, if it's reasonable

Under the National Employment Standards, employees have a right to be absent from work on a public holiday. The FWO puts it simply: employees should be given the choice.

An employer can request someone to work a public holiday, but the request has to be reasonable. The employee can refuse if they have reasonable grounds or if the request itself is unreasonable. In deciding whether to roster someone, the FWO lists factors including:

• the nature of the workplace and the work the person does
• their personal circumstances, including caring responsibilities
• whether they're full-time, part-time or casual
• whether they could have expected to be asked
• any overtime, penalty rates or other payment they'd receive
• how much notice they're given

You can require someone to work a public holiday only where you've made a reasonable request and they've unreasonably refused it.

That notice factor is the one you control. A request made in October, with the rate spelled out, is in a very different position from a text on 23 December. It's also just better management. People plan Christmas early, and the ones who are happy to work it would like to know now.

What it costs

Two different pay questions come up, and they're easy to mix up.

Working the day. Public holiday pay rates come from the award or registered agreement that covers the work, not from the National Employment Standards. The FWO notes awards and agreements can provide extra pay, an extra day off or extra annual leave, minimum shift lengths on public holidays, and the option to agree to substitute a public holiday for another day. Look up the actual clause in the relevant award (the FWO's Pay and Conditions Tool helps) and budget from that. Don't guess, and don't assume the Saturday and the Monday are treated the same way under every instrument. Check how your award handles a public holiday that falls on a weekend alongside an additional weekday holiday.

Not working the day. Permanent employees who would normally work on the day a public holiday falls are paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked. That base rate excludes loadings, allowances, penalties, overtime and bonuses. The FWO is explicit that a roster can't be changed to deliberately avoid this payment. People who wouldn't normally work that day don't get paid for it, and casual employees aren't covered by this entitlement.

If you're running a shutdown, note too that a public holiday falling during paid annual leave is paid as a public holiday and isn't deducted from the leave balance. The FWO suggests checking whether your payroll system needs a manual adjustment so that happens.

When your extra workers come through labour hire

When you use an agency, the agency is the employer, so the request to work the public holiday, and the pay that goes with it, sit with them. When you book through us, we are the workers' legal employer: we ask our people, we pay them under the award or agreement that applies, and our charge for public holiday shifts reflects those rates. You'll know what they are before you confirm the booking.

What we need from you is early and specific:

1. Which days you actually need cover, including the Saturday and the Monday if you're in a state that has both.
2. Shift times, especially anything after 6 pm on 24 or 31 December in Queensland, or after 7 pm in SA and the NT.
3. Headcount per shift, with a "must have" number and a "nice to have" number.
4. The sites involved, so we're working to the right state calendar.

The earlier we get that, the earlier we can ask workers and give them proper notice, which is good for them and makes your roster far more reliable. We'd rather fill a Boxing Day shift with someone who said yes in October than someone talked into it at the last minute. Our guide to briefing a labour hire agency covers the rest of what helps.

It's also a good moment to remember that safety duties don't take holidays. Skeleton supervision on a public holiday, with a crew that includes new starters, is a familiar risk pattern. Make sure there's a named supervisor on every shift; our piece on host employer safety duties explains why that matters.

An October checklist

• Check the calendar for every state and region you operate in, including part-day holidays.
• Decide which public holidays you genuinely need to run, and at what headcount.
• Ask your own team now, in writing, with the rate and the hours. Record who said yes.
• Price it from the award, not from memory, and budget for the Saturday and the Monday separately.
• Brief your agency with days, times, headcount and sites, and get confirmation of the charge rates.
• Check payroll handles public holidays during leave and any shutdown correctly.

If you're building the bigger picture for the season, our peak-season workforce plan walks through the full process, and our warehouse and distribution labour hire page explains how we staff those sites.

This is general information, not legal advice. Public holiday entitlements depend on your state, your award or agreement and your employees' circumstances, so check the official sources or get advice on your situation. If you'd like to talk through holiday cover for your sites, get in touch.