Public holiday pay and arrangements

Under the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993, 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.

Casual employees who are not required to work are not entitled to be paid on a public holiday.

The entitlement to be paid for a public holiday is based on whether an employee would:

• ordinarily be required to work on that day;
• but is not working because it is a public holiday.

If the public holiday is a day that the employee would ordinarily work, they would generally still have an entitlement to be paid for the day, if there has been a one-off change to the roster made to avoid the public holiday.

Full time and part time employees who are not required to work on a day because that day is a public holiday must be paid for the same hours they ordinarily work at their ordinary rate of pay. This applies to all full time and part time employees, including apprentices and trainees, employees paid by commission or piece rate, and employees employed by household employers in a private home.

For example, Jian is a part time employee who works 9am to 2pm each Monday. On a Monday public holiday, if Jian is not required to work because the day is a public holiday, he must be paid his ordinary rate of pay for the 5 hours he would normally have worked.

Visit Minimum entitlements for commission only and piece rate employees for information on how to calculate leave payments for a public holiday for employees paid by commission or piece rate. 

There is no minimum entitlement under the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act to payment of a higher rate of pay for working on a public holiday for full time, part time or casual employees.

Employees who are not covered by a WA award or industrial agreement (award free employees), or a contract of employment, which requires the employer to provide a higher rate of pay when working on a public holiday, are entitled to be paid their normal rate of pay.

Many WA awards and industrial agreements require employees (including casual employees) to be paid a higher rate of pay (a public holiday penalty rate) for working on a public holiday. WA awards and agreements may also contain other provisions for public holidays, such as a minimum number of hours an employee must work / be paid for when working on a public holiday, substitution of a weekend public holiday to the following Monday, and alternate rostering arrangements.

It is unlawful for an employer to not provide an employee who is entitled to a public holiday penalty rate with the correct rates of pay.

To check your public holiday penalty rates:

• If you know which WA award covers you:
  • Visit WA award summaries if the relevant WA award has a Wageline WA award summary;
  • Visit the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission website to check the public holiday provisions in the relevant award; or
  • Contact Wageline for information on 1300 655 266.
• If you do not know whether you are covered by a WA award – follow the steps on Finding the right pay rate to work out if an award applies.
• Employees covered by an industrial agreement should check the specific conditions in the agreement by contacting the human resources area of your employing organisation.

Special public holidays

Special public holidays can be proclaimed by the Governor for days that are not normally public holidays. The National Day of Mourning in 2022 was a special public holiday.

Employees covered by a WA award or industrial agreement that provides higher rates of pay for working a public holiday to be paid those higher rates if required to work on a special public holiday.

The minimum entitlement for award free employees is that the public holiday is observed on the actual (weekend) day, without any substitution of a public holiday which falls on a weekend to the following Monday.

For example, in 2023, Sunday 1 January 2023 was the New Year’s Day public holiday under the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 for employees not covered by an award or agreement and Monday 2 January 2023 was not considered a public holiday.

Under some WA awards and industrial agreements, a public holiday which falls on a weekend is substituted with a weekday public holiday, usually the following Monday (Boxing Day may be substituted to a Tuesday). In this case the substituted weekday is the public holiday for the purposes of the award (including payment of public holiday rates) and the weekend day is not a public holiday for the purposes of the award.

For example, in 2023, Monday 2 January 2023 was the New Year’s Day public holiday for employees covered by the Shop and Warehouse (Wholesale and Retail Establishments) Award, as under this WA award when New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, the public holiday is observed on the following Monday. Sunday 1 January 2023 was not a public holiday for the purposes of this award.

An alternative arrangement in WA awards is that where a public holiday falls on the weekend the weekend day itself is the public holiday for award purposes (including payment of public holiday pay rates) and the following Monday is not a public holiday for the purposes of the award.

For example, for employees covered by the Restaurant, Tearoom and Catering Workers Award Sunday 1 January 2023 was the New Year’s Day public holiday for the purposes of the award and the following Monday was not a public holiday.

A third less common arrangement in WA awards is that that where a public holiday falls on the weekend both the weekend day and the following Monday are considered as public holidays for award purposes (including the payment of public holiday pay rates).

Easter Sunday

When Easter Sunday was made a public holiday in 2022, implementation arrangements were introduced for state system employees covered by WA awards and industrial agreements.

Under these arrangements, the Easter Sunday public holiday is observed on Easter Sunday itself, rather than some alternative day. Any provision in a WA award, industrial agreement that would substitute the Easter Sunday public holiday to another day solely because the public holiday falls on a weekend is of no effect.

However, provisions that would substitute the Easter Sunday public holiday to another day for some other reason, for example, because it falls on an employee’s rostered day off, will continue to operate as set out in the WA award, or industrial agreement.

Employees who are required to work on Easter Sunday are entitled to receive any applicable public holiday penalty rates in their WA award or industrial agreement on this day, rather than normal Sunday pay rates.

To check your public holiday arrangements:

• If you know which WA award covers you:
  • Visit WA award summaries if the relevant WA award has a Wageline WA award summary;
  • Visit the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission website to check the public holiday provisions in the relevant award; or
  • Contact Wageline for information on 1300 655 266.
• If you do not know whether you are covered by a WA award – follow the steps on Finding the right pay rate to work out if an award applies.
• Employees who are covered by an industrial agreement should check the specific provisions in the agreement by contacting the human resources area of your employing organisation.

If a public holiday falls on an employee’s non-working day there is not a minimum entitlement to a paid day off or any alternative public holiday arrangement. For example, a full time employee who is award free (not covered by a WA award or industrial agreement) who works Tuesday to Saturday would not be entitled to a paid day off for a Monday public holiday.

Some WA award or industrial agreements contains specific provisions for alternative public holiday arrangements when public holidays fall on an employee’s rostered day off or non-working day.

For example, the Shop and Warehouse Award provides that when a public holiday falls on a ‘non-working day’, a full time employee is to be compensated in one of the following methods by agreement between the employer and employee:

• payment of an additional day's wages; or
• another day shall be allowed with pay within 28 days; or
• an additional day shall be added to the annual leave entitlement.

To check your public holiday arrangements:

• If you know which WA award covers you:
  • Visit WA award summaries if the relevant WA award has a Wageline WA award summary;
  • Visit the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission website to check the public holiday provisions in the relevant award; or
  • Contact Wageline for information on 1300 655 266.
• If you do not know whether you are covered by a WA award – follow the steps on Finding the right pay rate to work out if an award applies.
• Employees who are covered by an industrial agreement should check the specific provisions in the agreement by contacting the human resources area of your employing organisation.

Annual leave or personal leave

If an employee is on a period of paid annual leave or personal leave, they do not have a minimum entitlement to payment for a public holiday because they are not required to work solely because it is a public holiday, but rather are absent because they are on a period of annual or personal leave.

However, a WA award or industrial agreement may provide for employees to have paid public holidays which fall during a period of leave.

Long service leave

If a full time or part time employee is on a period of long service leave under the state Long Service Leave Act 1958, and the employee would have ordinarily been entitled to the public holiday had they not been on long service leave, the period of long service leave is increased by one day for each such holiday.

Unpaid leave

If an employee is on a period of unpaid leave, they are not entitled to payment for the public holiday as they are not absent solely because it is a public holiday.

Easter Saturday is not a public holiday in Western Australia. There is no minimum entitlement to any special arrangements for Easter Saturday.

Some WA awards do recognise Easter Saturday as a public holiday for the purposes of the award, and employees under these awards who work Easter Saturday must be paid public holiday rates. Key WA awards in this category are:

• Aboriginal Communities and Organisations Award
• Crisis Assistance, Supported Housing Industry Award
• Social and Community Services Award.
• Local Government Officers Award
• Municipal Employees Award
• Retail Pharmacists Award

View the relevant WA award summary for public holiday pay rates for these awards.

A group of other WA awards require employees to be paid a higher rate of pay when working on Easter Saturday.

Key WA awards that require a higher rate of pay when working on Easter Saturday are:

• Shop and Warehouse (Wholesale and Retail Establishments) Award
• Building Trades Construction Award
• Clerks (Wholesale and Retail Establishments) Award
• Hairdressers Award

View the WA award summary for the pay rates for Easter Saturday for these awards.

Employees who are covered by an industrial agreement should check the specific provisions in the agreement by contacting the human resources area of your employing organisation.