2024 Public Holidays and Annual Leave
If you work on any of the above Public Holidays, you are entitled to be paid penalty rates. If you are full-time or part-time and would ordinarily be rostered to work on a day that is a public holiday, and you are instructed to not attend work, you must be paid your base rate of pay.
Paid annual leave is a historic Union win, first won in 1936 and made standard in 1970 after a long-fought Union campaign. Annual leave allows full-time and part-time employees to take paid time off throughout the year to take a well-deserved break. Full-time and part-time employees will accrue four weeks of annual leave per year, or five weeks for shiftworkers on the SCHADS Award. If you do not use all the annual leave you have accrued in the year, the entitlement will roll over and you can take this later. Annual leave that you have accrued but not taken is paid when you leave your employer.
Annual leave can be taken by agreement with your employer, with no minimum or maximum amount of time you can take at once. Your employer may have processes regarding how and when to request annual leave. Your employer can deny your annual leave request on reasonable business grounds, which may include:
• the needs of the employee and the business
• any agreed arrangement with the employee
• custom and practice of the business
• the length of the period of notice given.
Am I a shiftworker?
You are a shiftworker if:
a. you work more than 4 ordinary hours on at least 10 weekends in a year, or
b. you work at least eight 24-hour care shifts in a year.
I am casual. Can I take paid annual leave?
Casuals are not entitled to paid annual leave. If you are a casual employee and have been working for the same employer for over 12 months, call your ASU to talk to your Member Assistance Team about steps to become a permanent employee.
My employer is directing me to take annual leave. Can they do this?
Your employer can only direct you to take annual leave in very limited circumstances. These vary depending on if you are covered by an Award or an Enterprise Agreement. If your employer has directed you to take annual leave, contact your ASU Member Assistance Team on (07) 3844 5300.
How does it work?
You are eligible to request to swap any public holiday. Whether you’d prefer to work on Easter and take Diwali off or skip the King’s Birthday for a day that matters to you, now you have the option. Both you and your employer need to agree on the substitute day, but only you can initiate the swap.
What about pay?
You’ll earn your normal rate for working the original holiday, and public holiday rates if you work on your chosen substitute day.
Contact the The Services Union office on (07) 3844 5300 for advice and support regarding public holiday penalty rates, substituting public holidays, and your rights regarding public holiday rosters.