Christmas/New Year Public Holidays 2023/24

07 December 2023

What are the Public Holidays?

The situation this year is relatively straight forward because the four public holidays all fall on weekdays. Therefore, they will be observed on the days they fall and do not transfer:

Christmas Day is Monday, 25 December 2023.
Boxing Day is Tuesday, 26 December 2023.
New Years’ Day is Monday, 1 January 2024.
2 January (the day after New Years’ Day) is Tuesday, 2 January 2024.

Note: If any of the above holidays fall on a day that would not otherwise be a working day for an employee, they are not entitled to any payment for that public holiday. They observe it as an unpaid day off (see s48(1) Holidays Act 2003).

How to determine whether a particular day would otherwise be a working day for an employee?

If there is a roster in place that will usually govern. Otherwise, there are a number of factors to consider such as the employee’s employment agreement, the employee’s work pattern and whether the employee would otherwise have worked on the day, but for the public holiday. As a guide:

If the employee has worked on a given day of the week for at least 7 out of the previous 13 weeks, it may be reasonable to conclude that day is “otherwise a working day” for the employee.

If the employee has worked on a given day for at least 3 out of the previous 5 weeks it may also be reasonable to conclude that day is “otherwise a working day” for the employee. This option recognises there may have been a recent work pattern change.

Payment for working on a public holiday

Every employee who works on a public holiday is entitled to be paid not less than time and a half (as defined in the Act), which means the appropriate portion of their relevant daily pay for the time worked, plus half that amount again.

But only employees for whom that day would otherwise be a working day, are entitled to an alternative holiday.

Note: Payment for the alternative holiday is the employee’s relevant daily pay for the day on which they take the alternative holiday. The period of time spent working on the public holiday has no bearing on the matter. Therefore, if you’re asking an employee to work for only a short period on a public holiday, be aware they will be entitled to a whole day off on pay at a later date.

Payment for NOT working on a Public Holiday

If the day would otherwise be a working day for the employee, they are entitled to be paid their relevant daily pay for the day.

However, if the day would not otherwise be a working day for the employee, they are not entitled to any payment. They observe it as an unpaid day off (see s48(1) Holidays Act 2003).

Employee On-Call / Stand-By on Public Holiday

Employees on standby on a public holiday are also entitled to an alternative holiday even if they are not actually required to perform any work, provided the nature of the restriction imposed by the on-call condition on the employee’s freedom of action is such that, for all practical purposes, the employee has not had a whole holiday.