The determination of whether a person is entitled to payment from their employer in respect of a public holiday is governed by the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. Under the Act, for each of the nine public holidays in a year, an employee is entitled to either a paid day off on the holiday, a paid day off within a month of the holiday, an extra day’s annual leave, or an extra day’s pay. If a person is on temporary lay-off, they are entitled to benefit for the public holidays that fall within the first thirteen weeks of lay-off.
An employee may present a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission if it appears that the employer has failed to provide the correct holiday entitlements to which the employee is entitled under the Act.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.