# Public Holiday Pay for Casual and Part-Time Workers > Find out whether you're paid for Christmas Day and other public holidays as a casual or part-timer, whether you work them or not, and how to check your rate. Canonical HTML: https://getclova.com/blog/public-holiday-pay Clova is an Australian budgeting app. [Join the waitlist](https://getclova.com/) [Home](https://getclova.com/) → [Guides](https://getclova.com/blog) → [Life costs](https://getclova.com/blog/topic/life-costs) → [Public Holiday Pay for Casual and Part-Time Workers](https://getclova.com/blog/public-holiday-pay) - Author: Marnix - Published: 2026-10-27 The summer roster is up, and Christmas Day is either on it or noticeably missing. Either way, you're wondering what it does to your pay, in the same few weeks that Christmas costs start to arrive. What a day off pays comes from rules that cover most employees in Australia. What a holiday shift pays depends on your job's award or agreement, and a free official tool can look it up for you. ## A day off on a public holiday The rule for days off comes from the **National Employment Standards**, the minimum conditions for most employees in Australia. If you're part-time or full-time, the payment covers the ordinary hours you'd have worked that day at your **base rate**: your ordinary hourly rate without penalties, loadings, overtime or allowances. Your award or agreement can add to that. Christmas Day off (Friday 25 December 2026): who's paid for it. | Roster | Paid for the day (AUD) | Why | | --- | ---: | --- | | Part-time, works Mon, Wed, Fri | $180 | 6 ordinary hours at a $30 base rate | | Part-time, works Tue to Thu | $0 | Friday isn't one of their usual days | | Casual, usually Mon, Wed, Fri | $0 | Casuals aren't paid for public holidays they don't work | Illustrative rate and hours. Casual loading, generally an extra 25% on each hour you work, isn't holiday pay, so a closed Christmas Day or Boxing Day drops out of a casual's pay. If those are days you'd usually work, the pay covering them will be smaller. Clova shows what's left until payday, which is the number to watch in a fortnight like that. ## Working on a public holiday On top of the base rate, awards and registered agreements set their own extras. These can be a higher public holiday rate, an extra day off, a minimum shift length or an agreed swap of the holiday for another day. An **award** sets the minimum pay and conditions for an industry or kind of job, such as retail or hospitality. Some workplaces have a registered **enterprise agreement** instead, made for that business and approved by the Fair Work Commission. There's no single public holiday rate for everyone, so the rate a friend gets in another job may not be yours. If you're casual, check whether a public holiday rate you find already includes your casual loading before adding anything to it. ## Which days are public holidays this summer Each state and territory declares its own public holidays. Because Boxing Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, most add a holiday on Monday 28 December, and a few count the evening of Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. Christmas and New Year public holidays, 2026–27. "Evening" holidays run from the time shown to midnight. | State or territory | Thu 24 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | Mon 28 Dec | Thu 31 Dec | Fri 1 Jan | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ACT | — | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | — | New Year's Day | | NSW | — | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | — | New Year's Day | | NT | Evening from 7 pm | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | Evening from 7 pm | New Year's Day | | Qld | Evening from 6 pm | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | — | New Year's Day | | SA | Evening from 7 pm | Christmas Day | Proclamation Day holiday | Proclamation Day holiday | Evening from 7 pm | New Year's Day | | Tas | — | Christmas Day | — | Boxing Day | — | New Year's Day | | Vic | — | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | — | New Year's Day | | WA | — | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day holiday | — | New Year's Day | Each state's declared days, as listed by Fair Work. An evening holiday covers only the hours after its start time. A 4 pm to 10 pm shift on Christmas Eve in South Australia has three ordinary hours and three on the public holiday, and your award or agreement decides how each part is paid. ## Check the rate for your shift Fair Work's free [Pay and Conditions Tool](https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/) looks up the minimum pay for a particular shift. It helps to have these ready: - your award and your level in it, which payroll can tell you - your age, because some awards pay junior rates - whether you're casual, part-time or full-time - the shift's date and its start and finish times. If your workplace has an enterprise agreement, the tool's award result won't reflect it. The agreement's own rates apply, and payroll can point you to them. When the pay arrives, compare the hours and **gross pay** on your payslip with what you looked up, rather than the amount that reached your bank, which has had tax taken out. [Your payslip explained](/blog/payslip-explained) shows where to find those lines. If they don't match, ask payroll first, with the date, the hours and the rate you expected. Fair Work's Infoline on **13 13 94** can help if it isn't sorted from there. ## Plan the pays around the holidays Plan the pays around Christmas from the shifts you've actually been given and give anything extra a job once it lands. [Budgeting on an irregular income](/blog/budgeting-irregular-income) walks through that habit for any roster that moves around. A holiday shift that pays more than usual is also a good place to start a small buffer for the quieter weeks after it. When a pay period ends with money left over, Clova asks where it should go, so the extra has a place before it blends into the next fortnight. Clova is an Australian budgeting app. Join the waitlist and we’ll be in touch. [Join the waitlist](https://getclova.com/) Knowing your public holiday pay means you can answer a Christmas shift request with the numbers in front of you, and [plan Christmas](/blog/christmas-budget) around pay you can count on. ## A note from us A holiday roster should be something you can plan around, not something you find out about on payday. Clova plans each pay into allocations, so you can see what a lighter holiday pay still has to carry. ## Common questions ### Can I say no to working on Christmas Day? You can if the request isn't reasonable or you have reasonable grounds to refuse. Your employer can ask you to work a public holiday. Things that count include the notice you were given, any extra pay for the day, the kind of workplace and your own circumstances, such as caring for someone. Being casual is one of the things weighed, not an exception. ### Can my employer change my roster so I'm not paid for the holiday? No. An employer can't change your roster to deliberately avoid paying you for a public holiday you'd normally work. If your usual day disappears from the roster only in the holiday week, ask payroll why. ### What if a public holiday falls during my annual leave? You're paid for the public holiday, and it isn't taken from your leave balance, as long as it falls on a day you'd normally work. Casuals don't get paid annual leave, so this applies to part-time and full-time staff. ### Which public holidays apply if I'm working interstate? The ones where your job is based. If your job is based in Melbourne and you're working in Sydney on a Victorian public holiday, you get the Victorian holiday, even though it's an ordinary day in Sydney. ### Does this apply in Western Australia? It depends on your employer. Some WA employers are covered by the state's own workplace system rather than the national one, with its own rules. Ask payroll which covers you; under the state system, the national Pay and Conditions Tool won't give your rate. ## Sources 1. [Not working on public holidays](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/public-holidays/not-working-on-public-holidays) · Fair Work Ombudsman 2. [Public holiday penalty rates](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages/penalty-rates-allowances-and-other-payments/penalty-rates/public-holiday-penalty-rates) · Fair Work Ombudsman 3. [Public holidays](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/public-holidays) · Fair Work Ombudsman 4. [2026 public holidays](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/public-holidays/2026-public-holidays) · Fair Work Ombudsman 5. [2027 public holidays](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/public-holidays/2027-public-holidays) · Fair Work Ombudsman 6. [Your guide to casual employment](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-03/fg-your-guide-to-casual-employment.pdf) · Fair Work Ombudsman 7. [Pay and Conditions Tool](https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/) · Fair Work Ombudsman 8. [Taking steps to fix a problem](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/workplace-problems/fixing-a-workplace-problem/taking-steps-to-fix-a-problem) · Fair Work Ombudsman ## Related reading - [Your first payslip, explained line by line](https://getclova.com/blog/payslip-explained) - [How to budget when your casual income changes](https://getclova.com/blog/budgeting-irregular-income) - [A Christmas budget without credit cards or Afterpay](https://getclova.com/blog/christmas-budget) [Report a correction](https://getclova.com/contact) This guide explains a budgeting method in general terms; it doesn't consider your circumstances.