During public employers have the task of ensuring that they pay their employees correctly over this period.
Getting this right is particularly challenging in the hospitality industry due to:
- The complexities of the various awards and the requirements of the Fair Work Act
- Our unique workforce often made up with a mix of casual, part time and full time employees
- Non regular opening hours with many businesses operating outside the standard Monday to Friday 9 – 5
So what are the requirements?
NES (National Employment Standards) covers Public Holidays.
Most hospitality business are covered by either the Restaurant Industry or the Fast Food Industry Award. Both awards state that an employee must be paid a penalty loading on their base rate for hours worked on a Public Holiday.
The current public holiday penalty loading for casual staff is:
The current public holiday penalty loading for part-time and full time staff is:
Notes for businesses closed on the public holiday
Casual staff – no impact.
Fulltime and Part-time staff – there are 2 scenarios:
- if their usual rostered work day (ordinary hours) falls on the public holiday they have entitlements (see below)
- if their usual rostered work day does not fall on the public holiday they have no additional entitlements
Entitlements – there are 3 options:
- pay an additional day
- provide an alternative day off (within 28 days)
- provide an additional days annual leave
As you can see the requirements are all but straight forward. The team at Ten X Advisors can work with you to ensure you get your payroll right .