Public Holiday Pay Rates in Australia: A State Guide
Check how public holiday pay rates work in Australia — penalty rates, casual loading, day-off rules and how to confirm the figure for your award.
There is no single public holiday pay rate in Australia. The Fair Work Act's National Employment Standards set the floor, which is paid absence for full-time and part-time staff. Your modern award or enterprise agreement sets the penalty rate you're paid if you work instead, and that figure varies a lot by industry.
How much extra you get for working one
The NES gives full-time and part-time employees the right to be absent on a public holiday without losing pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked. It says nothing about what you get for turning up instead.
That figure comes from your award or agreement, usually as a percentage of your base hourly rate. Retail and hospitality awards sit at the higher end and office-based awards are usually lower. The spread is wide enough that guessing is not worth it.
Read the percentage carefully. It is the total paid for each hour worked, not an amount added to your base. A 225% rate means 2.25 times your ordinary hourly rate for those hours.
| Employee type | If you don't work it | If you do work it |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | Your base rate for the hours you would have worked | Your award's public holiday penalty rate for the hours worked |
| Part-time | Your base rate, but only for hours you were rostered that day | The same penalty rate as full-time, for the hours worked |
| Casual | Nothing. Casuals have no entitlement to paid absence | A rate that usually already folds in the 25% casual loading, so the multiplier sits higher |
Confirm the percentage through the Fair Work Ombudsman before you count on it. It is award-specific and it is updated periodically, which is the one detail a guide cannot pin down for you.
Award or state: which one sets your rate?
Mostly the award. Most private-sector employees sit in the national workplace relations system, so the penalty rate follows your industry rather than your postcode. Two retail workers on the General Retail Industry Award, one in Sydney and one in Brisbane, are on the same public holiday rate.
What the state sets is which days count, and sometimes who a day even applies to. NSW's Bank Holiday, next on Monday 2 August 2027, is not a declared public holiday. It is a limited banking and finance date under separate NSW rules.
Queensland's show holidays make the same point. Brisbane took the Ekka on Wednesday 12 August 2026, while Logan, Moreton Bay and Redland took Monday 10 August, and Cairns and Townsville hold theirs on different days again. A show-day penalty rate only attaches where the day is gazetted.
When the holiday lands on your day off
If you were not rostered that day, you generally get nothing extra. There were no ordinary hours to be paid for, and the NES does not bank a day in lieu because the date happened to be a holiday. A part-timer who never works Wednesdays gets nothing for a Wednesday holiday.
Substitute days are the exception. Anzac Day 2026 fell on Saturday 25 April and NSW added a public holiday on Monday 27 April, so NSW staff rostered that Monday were covered on the Monday instead. Queensland added nothing. See how substitute public holidays work for the state-by-state picture.
Which 2026 dates carry penalty rates in NSW and Queensland
Penalty rates apply on the gazetted date, so the calendar matters as much as the percentage. Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday and Boxing Day a Saturday. Both states keep the Saturday as a public holiday and add another on Monday 28 December.
| Holiday | NSW 2026 | QLD 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Australia Day | Mon 26 January | Mon 26 January |
| Good Friday | Fri 3 April | Fri 3 April |
| Easter Monday | Mon 6 April | Mon 6 April |
| Anzac Day | Sat 25 April, plus Mon 27 April | Sat 25 April, no substitute |
| Labour Day | Mon 5 October | Mon 4 May |
| King's Birthday | Mon 8 June | Mon 5 October |
| Christmas Eve | Not a public holiday | Thu 24 December, from 6pm |
| Christmas Day | Fri 25 December | Fri 25 December |
| Boxing Day | Sat 26 December, plus Mon 28 December | Sat 26 December, plus Mon 28 December |
Not every state treats that weekend the same way. Tasmania moves Boxing Day to Monday 28 December rather than keeping both, so the Saturday is not a public holiday there at all. Check your own state before you assume a Saturday shift attracts the rate.
Full lists, including restricted and regional days, are on the NSW public holidays and QLD public holidays pages, or browse every state from the public holidays hub.
How to confirm what you should be paid
- Find the award or agreement covering your role with the Fair Work Ombudsman's Find My Award tool, or check the name on your payslip.
- Read its public holiday clause, and note whether casuals are quoted a separate combined rate.
- Confirm the shift falls on a gazetted date for your state on the public holidays pages.
- Map the holidays across a longer stretch with the Working Days Calculator, or price leave either side of one with the Leave Planner.
Frequently asked questions
What is the public holiday penalty rate in Australia?
There is no national figure. The rate comes from the modern award or enterprise agreement covering your job, and it differs sharply between retail, hospitality and clerical work. The Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool returns the number for your classification.
Do public holiday pay rates differ by state?
Rarely. Penalty rates come from national modern awards, so the same award pays the same rate in every state. Your state decides which days are public holidays. Western Australia is the real exception, because some employers there remain under the state system.
Is a 225% public holiday rate my base pay plus 225%?
No. It is the whole hourly payment, or 2.25 times your ordinary rate for each hour worked. Multiply your base hourly rate by the quoted percentage to get the figure for the shift.
Do part-time employees get paid for a public holiday?
Yes, for the hours they were rostered to work that day. A part-timer whose agreed pattern does not include that weekday is paid nothing, because there were no ordinary hours to cover.
Do you get paid if you don't work on a public holiday?
Full-time and part-time staff, yes, at the base rate for the hours they would have worked. Casuals, no. Casual pay covers hours actually worked, so an unrostered casual receives nothing for the day.
Related tools
Picked for this page.
Weeks in a year
Compare weeks, working days and pay periods across calendar and financial years.
Date calculator
Count the days between dates, or add and subtract days, weeks and months.
Working days calculator
Count business days between dates, excluding your state's public holidays.
Week number calculator
Find a date's ISO week number, or look up the dates for a week and year.
