A public holiday falls inside my annual leave: should it reduce my leave balance?

The direct answer: do not deduct the public-holiday hours

If an applicable public holiday falls during your NES paid annual leave on a day you would normally work, the holiday hours are not annual leave. Your employer must pay your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked, and leave those hours in your annual-leave balance. A part-day public holiday protects the affected hours, not automatically the whole day. A day when the business simply closes is not automatically a public holiday.

This guide concerns employees in Australia's national workplace relations system. Full-time and part-time employees normally accrue four weeks of annual leave a year, based on ordinary hours; qualifying shiftworkers receive five. Part-time does not mean four full-time weeks. Casual employees do not accrue NES paid annual leave. Some state-system employees, including workers for some Western Australian sole traders or partnerships, need the state rules instead.

First mark the days you would actually work

Use the public holiday that applies to the place where you are based for work, including any valid substituted holiday. Match it to your ordinary roster. A Monday holiday normally creates no NES public-holiday payment for a part-time employee who only works Tuesday to Thursday; Monday should not have been deducted as annual leave either. Do not convert every calendar day of a holiday trip into leave days.

The ordinary public-holiday rule can differ for leave provided above NES minimum entitlements. Annual leave taken at the same time as unpaid parental leave does not bring a public-holiday payment. Other unpaid leave and long-service leave also need their own rules. Record these categories separately instead of applying the paid-annual-leave example to them.

Which pay rate and loading should be used?

The NES annual-leave minimum is base pay for the ordinary hours of leave. Base pay excludes overtime, penalty rates, shift loadings, allowances and bonuses. Your award or registered agreement can require a higher payment method or annual-leave loading. Loading is an extra annual-leave payment; 17.5% is common in awards but is not a universal NES entitlement. Its calculation base can be the award minimum rather than your actual hourly pay, or an award may compare loading with usual shift penalties.

For a public holiday when you do not work, the NES minimum is base pay for the ordinary hours, without overtime or public-holiday work penalties. Do not automatically add annual-leave loading to the public-holiday hours. Check for better award or agreement terms before finalising the calculation.

Complete example: the balance and the gross pay

Assume a national-system permanent employee works Monday to Friday, 7.6 ordinary hours a day. Their approved week away contains one applicable public holiday on a normal working day. The starting leave balance is 76 hours, the base rate is A$30 an hour, and the applicable award has been checked: it pays 17.5% annual-leave loading on that same A$30 base. Assume no other payments or leave categories.

Annual-leave hours = 4 × 7.6 = 30.4; remaining balance = 76 − 30.4 = 45.6 hours. Annual-leave base pay = 30.4 × A$30 = A$912; loading = A$912 × 17.5% = A$159.60. Public-holiday pay = 7.6 × A$30 = A$228. Gross pay for the week = A$912 + A$159.60 + A$228 = A$1,299.60. Without an entitlement to loading, the corresponding total would be A$1,140. These rates are hypothetical, not a statement of the legal minimum. If payroll deducted 38 hours, the balance correction is 7.6 hours; the money difference depends on how those hours were actually paid.

If you become ill during the holiday

Eligible time when you cannot work because of illness or injury can be paid sick leave instead of annual leave, if you have available paid sick leave and meet notice and evidence requirements. Tell the employer as soon as possible, state the expected duration, and provide reasonable evidence if requested. A holiday inconvenience or a routine appointment is not automatically sick leave. Identify the affected ordinary working hours; do not reclassify the public holiday as a sick-leave day and deduct it from another balance.

Send a correction request with the calculation attached

Keep the leave approval, before-and-after balances, ordinary roster, public-holiday location, payslip and the award or agreement's pay/loading clause. Send this adaptable request: “For my approved leave from [date] to [date], [date] was a public holiday where I am based for work and contained [hours] ordinary working hours. Payroll deducted [hours] annual leave; my calculation is [hours]. Please restore the [difference] hours, explain the public-holiday pay and annual-leave loading separately, and provide the corrected balance and any pay adjustment. If you disagree, please identify the applicable clause and calculation. Please respond by [date].”

Choose a reasonable response date; it is your requested date, not a statutory deadline. Ask separately for the reason and alternatives if a future annual-leave request is refused: an employer must not unreasonably refuse it, but that does not entitle you to every requested date.

How to take the next step if it is still wrong

First ask payroll or HR to review the itemised difference, retaining their response. Then use the dispute-resolution process in your award or agreement if applicable, with a representative or union if you wish. For a minimum NES/award/agreement entitlement that remains disputed, ask the Fair Work Ombudsman for assistance through its workplace-problem service or call 13 13 94; provide the hours comparison and documents rather than only saying “my leave is wrong”. Ask which entitlement covers the disputed hours and what evidence is still missing. A contract-only extra benefit may need a separate legal route.

If you are dismissed while pursuing the correction, keep that event separate and immediately check the Fair Work Commission's dismissal deadline. A payroll request does not suspend it.

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