Public holidays and casual or labour hire workers: who gets paid what

The end-of-year roster is the hardest one of the year to cost. Volume peaks, then half the country stops, and in the middle sit several public holidays where the rules for casual workers differ from the rules for your permanent team.

This year Christmas Day falls on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday, with New Year's Day the Friday after. That puts the holidays right against the busiest dispatch week for a lot of warehouses. Here is how the pay rules work, so you can plan the cost before you publish the roster.

Which days count

The National Employment Standards list eight public holidays that apply everywhere in Australia, including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. On top of that, the Fair Work Ombudsman notes that any other day or part-day declared by a state or territory is also a public holiday.

Two details catch hosts out:

• Substitute and additional days. When a holiday falls on a weekend, a state or territory law may declare a substitute or additional day. With Boxing Day on a Saturday this year, check what your state has declared. Do not assume it matches the state next door.
• Part-day holidays. Some jurisdictions declare part-days. If you run sites in more than one state, each site follows its own state's calendar.

We have not listed the state-by-state dates here because they change each year. The Fair Work Ombudsman publishes the current list, and it is worth checking before you lock anything in.

Casuals who are not working that day

This is the simplest rule. The Fair Work Ombudsman says employees, except casual employees, who normally work on the day a public holiday falls are paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked.

So a casual who does not work on Christmas Day is not paid for Christmas Day. That applies to a casual you employ directly and to an on-hired casual we employ and place with you. If the site is closed, there is no shift to pay for.

The reason is the trade built into casual work. Casuals don't get most types of paid leave, and they are paid a casual loading on top of the base rate instead. In the Storage Services and Wholesale Award, which covers a lot of warehouse work, that loading is 25% of the minimum hourly rate for each ordinary hour worked (clause 11.2).

Your permanent staff are different. Full-time and part-time employees are paid for a public holiday that falls on a day they would normally work. A part-timer who never works Fridays is not paid for a Friday holiday, but Fair Work is clear that a roster can't be changed to deliberately avoid the payment.

Casuals who do work the day

If a casual works a public holiday, the award or enterprise agreement that covers the work sets the pay. The Fair Work Ombudsman describes the usual entitlements as extra pay, such as public holiday penalty rates, or in some cases an extra day off.

The rate differs from award to award, so we will give one example and no more. Under clause 22.3 of the Storage Services and Wholesale Award (as amended to 1 July 2026):

• all work on a public holiday is paid at 250% of the minimum hourly rate
• an employee required to work a public holiday must be given at least 4 hours' work, or be paid for 4 hours at that rate.

We have not restated how the 25% casual loading sits alongside that figure. For the exact casual rate, use the Fair Work Ombudsman's pay guide for the award.

Other awards have their own clauses, and an enterprise agreement can differ again. Check the instrument that applies to your site before you roster.

For labour hire, the worker's pay is our obligation as the employer, and the public holiday rate is reflected in the hourly charge for that shift. If you want to understand how a charge rate is built, we break it down in what a labour hire worker really costs.

One practical point on cost: where the award sets a minimum engagement, bringing in six people for a ninety-minute truck on Boxing Day costs far more than ninety minutes each. If the freight can wait a day, adding hours either side of the holiday is usually cheaper.

Can a worker say no?

Yes, within limits. The Fair Work Ombudsman's position is that employees have a right to be away from work on a public holiday. An employer can ask an employee to work, but the request has to be reasonable, and the employee can refuse if the request is unreasonable or their refusal is reasonable.

Fair Work lists the factors that decide what is reasonable:

• the nature of the workplace and the work, including operational requirements
• the employee's personal circumstances, including family responsibilities
• whether the employee could reasonably expect to be asked
• whether they are entitled to penalty rates or other extra payments
• the type of employment: full-time, part-time, casual or shiftwork
• how much notice the employer gave, and how much notice the employee gave of their refusal
• any other relevant matter.

Employees are also protected from adverse action for reasonably refusing.

In practice, this means you should treat a public holiday shift as an invitation. "We need eight people on Boxing Day, at public holiday rates, who's available?" is a request, and it gets a better result anyway.

For on-hired workers, tell us early which holiday shifts you need. That leaves time to ask people properly, with the rate stated, and to fill the shift with those who want it. Late October is a good time for that conversation. The week before Christmas is not.

Shutdown periods

Many sites close between Christmas and New Year. The rules here are mostly about your permanent employees:

• An employer can direct employees to take annual leave during a shutdown if their award or enterprise agreement allows it, and the direction must be reasonable.
• The notice period comes from the award or agreement, so it is not the same everywhere. The Storage Services and Wholesale Award requires one month's written notice (clause 24.5), or a shorter period agreed with the majority of affected employees. The Fair Work Ombudsman's example for another award is at least 28 days.
• A public holiday that falls during paid annual leave is still paid as a public holiday and is not deducted from the leave balance.
• If someone doesn't have enough leave, unpaid leave is something they can agree to. Whether they are then paid for public holidays in that period depends on the award or agreement and what was agreed.

Count back from your shutdown date now. Under a one-month rule, notice for a Christmas Eve close needs to go out by late November.

Casuals have no paid leave to draw on, so for them a shutdown is simply a period without shifts. That is a real cost to the worker, and to you: people who go three weeks without income find other work. If you want the same trained crew back in January, give them your return date before you close, in writing if you can.

A roster checklist for hosts

1. Check the declared public holidays for each state you operate in, including substitute days.
2. Decide which holidays you truly need to operate, and for how many hours.
3. Confirm the award or agreement that covers the work, and its public holiday clause.
4. Ask for volunteers early, and state the rate.
5. Send shutdown notices on time.
6. Tell casual and on-hired workers your last shift and your first shift back.

If you are still shaping overall headcount for the season, our peak-season workforce plan covers that side. You can also see how we staff warehouse and distribution sites.

Awards and agreements differ, so confirm anything decision-critical with the Fair Work Ombudsman or a qualified adviser.

Planning your holiday cover?

Tell us which days you need staffed and where. Get in touch and we aim to reply within two business hours.