Private sector employers and employees
Telephone: 1300 655 266
Mailing address
Locked Bag 100
East Perth WA 6892
This information is only relevant to employers and employees in the WA state industrial relations system – sole traders, unincorporated partnerships, unincorporated trusts and some incorporated or not for profit organisations. Find out more on the Guide to who is in the WA state system page.
If you operate or are employed by a Pty Ltd business – you can find information on this topic on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
This page covers questions commonly asked about payment for public holidays. Please check the WA award summaries or contact Wageline for specific information on public holiday rates.
Dates for Western Australia’s public holidays
Specific public holiday entitlement information is available for:
Christmas and New Year 2020-2021
Australia Day public holiday 2021
Full time and part time employees who are not required to work on a day solely because that day is a public holiday are entitled to be paid as if they were required to work on that day. Part time employees receive public holidays if the day falls on a day they would normally work.
If a full time or part time employee is ordinarily required to work on a day on which a public holiday falls, then they will be entitled to a paid day off for that day. If they are not ordinarily required to work on a day on which a public holiday falls, they will not be entitled to a paid day off for that day. For example, where a full time employee ordinarily works Tuesday to Saturday they would not be entitled to a paid day off for a public holiday that falls on a Monday as this is not a day they would normally work.
Full time and part time employees who would ordinarily be required to work on a day that is a public holiday are entitled to a paid day off for that day. A roster change for one week is of no effect if that day is a day the employee would ordinarily work - changing a roster for one week does not mean the employee no longer ordinarily works that day.
An employer’s ability to change the employee's roster may also be restricted by the rostering provisions in any WA award which applies. For help in working out which provisions apply, contact Wageline.
Rostering for casual employees is more flexible, and casual employees are not usually entitled to a paid day off on public holidays. However, you should check the award, registered industrial agreement or written contract of employment to determine whether it provides casual employees with an entitlement to paid public holidays.
Most WA awards specify rates of pay for working on a public holiday. An award may, for example, require the payment of public holiday penalty rates such as double time, or double time and a half, for all hours worked on a public holiday. If an employee covered by a WA award works on a public holiday the minimum they must be paid for the hours they work on that public holiday is the wage rate specified in the award or agreement, including any public holiday penalty rates, even if they are paid above award rates.
If you know which award applies to your situation, you can check the specific requirements about public holiday penalty rates in the WA award summaries. Alternatively, contact Wageline.
If an employee is award free, there are no minimum entitlements to additional rates of pay for working a public holiday. If a written employment contract applies to the employee, check what the contract specifies regarding public holidays.
Public holidays and public holiday penalty rates (if applicable) apply to apprentices and trainees as they do to other employees.
Full time and part time employees are entitled to be paid for days off on public holidays as if they had worked the same hours they ordinarily work.
Casual employees are generally not entitled to a paid day off on public holidays.
The entitlement in this situation will depend on whether a WA award applies to the employee. If a WA award applies, it will generally deal with the employee's entitlement in one of three ways:
Check the relevant award to determine what an employee must be paid or which days off the employee is entitled to in this situation.
If no WA award applies, then in most cases only the actual day will be considered a public holiday. Award free full time and part time employees who would normally work that day, but do not work solely because the business is closed due to the public holiday, are entitled to be paid as if they were required to work that day. Payment for working on the day would depend on employment conditions (e.g. the contract of employment) and penalty rates would only apply if the employment conditions so provide.
It should be noted that if a business chooses not to trade on a day which has been declared a public holiday, but which is not considered a public holiday under the relevant award or contract of employment, the employer may still have a contractual obligation to pay full time and part time employees for the hours they would normally have worked if the business was open.
Check the WA award summaries or contact Wageline for more information.
Easter Saturday is not a public holiday in Western Australia. However, some WA awards provide for Easter Saturday penalty rates of pay. You should check the relevant WA award to determine whether a penalty rate applies to work on Easter Saturday.
Check the WA award summaries or contact Wageline for more information.
In some regional areas within Western Australia the Queen’s Birthday is celebrated on a different day to the rest of the State. This is to coincide with a day of regional significance (for example, a festival or race cup day). In the regions where this occurs, the nominated alternative Queen’s Birthday public holiday is observed instead of the Queen’s Birthday public holiday observed in the rest of WA.
An employee who lives in such a region, and who is entitled to be paid more for working on a public holiday, is not entitled to public holiday rates for working on both Queen’s Birthday public holidays. Rather, they are entitled to be paid public holiday rates for working on the Queen’s Birthday public holiday day that applies in their region.
Similarly, an employee who lives in a region with an alternative Queen’s Birthday public holiday, and who is entitled to a paid day off for that day, is only entitled to a paid day off for the alternative Queen’s Birthday public holiday.
You will need to check the relevant award, or written contract of employment to determine whether there is an entitlement to be paid more for work on any public holiday, including the alternative Queen’s Birthday public holiday.
An employee on paid sick leave would be entitled to take a public holiday that falls during their period of paid sick leave as a paid public holiday, not as a paid sick leave day.
Check the WA award summaries or contact Wageline for more information.
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