Important Dates for the Christmas Period

April 24, 2017

Christmas holidays getting you confused?

Below are some guidelines from the EMA around what days are considered public holidays and the rules around the transfer of public holidays.

Important dates

Christmas Day Sunday 25 December 2016 Or Tuesday 27 December 2016
Boxing Day Monday 26 December 2016
New Year’s Day Sunday 1 January 2017 Or Tuesday 3 January 2017
January Holiday Monday 2 January 2017

Transfer of public holidays over Christmas 2016 & new year 2017

Christmas Day 25 December 2016 and New Year’s Day 1 January 2017 fall on a Sunday and are therefore subject to
specific Christmas and New Year public holiday transfer rules.

  • If the public holiday falls on a Sunday and the day would otherwise be a working day for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on that day
  • If the public holiday falls on a Sunday and the day would not otherwise be a working day for the employee, the public holiday must be treated as falling on the following Tuesday.

We recommend employers consider the impact of the transfer rules and discuss your business requirements with employees well in advance.

Where the public holiday is observed on Sunday the following Tuesday will just be an ordinary day for the employee. If they
usually work on Tuesday and you do not require them to work then annual leave or roster changes may be suitable options,
subject to the Holidays Act and any relevant terms of employment.

Public holiday Sunday or Tuesday?

If Sunday IS normally a working day for the employee:

Public Holidays: Christmas Day Sunday 25 December 2016
New Year’s Day Sunday 1 January 2017

If Sunday IS NOT normally a working day for the employee:

Public Holiday Transfer: Christmas Day Tuesday 27 December 2016
New Year’s Day Tuesday 3 January 2017

Note:

Employees are entitled to a maximum of 4 public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period. An employee will only
be entitled to a paid day off on the public holiday if the day would otherwise be a working day for them.

Otherwise working day:

In most situations it will be very clear that the day on which the public holiday falls would otherwise be a working day for an
employee.

If it is not clear whether a day would otherwise be a working day for your employee, you should consider these factors with
a view to reaching agreement with your employee:

The employee’s employment agreement
The employee’s work patterns
Any other relevant factors, including:

  • whether the employee works for the employer only when work is available
  • the employer’s rosters or other similar systems
  • the reasonable expectations of the employer and the employee that the employee would work on the day concerned

Whether, but for the day being a public holiday, the employee would have worked on the day concerned

Christmas close downs and public holidays

If a public holiday falls during a close down period, the factors listed above in relation to what would otherwise be a working day must be considered as if the close down were not in effect. This means employees may be entitled to paid public holidays during close down periods.

Annual Holidays and public holidays

A public holiday that occurs during an employee’s annual holidays is treated as a public holiday and not an annual holiday.

An employee who has an entitlement to annual holidays at the time that their employment ends will be entitled to be paid
for a public holiday if the holiday would have:

  • otherwise been a working day for the employee; and
  • occurred during the employee’s annual holidays had they taken their remaining holiday entitlement immediately after the date on which their employment came to an end.

The requirement only applies to the annual holiday entitlement an employee has at termination, not accrued leave from an
incomplete year of employment.

Employees become entitled to 4 weeks annual holidays at the end of each completed 12 months of continuous employment.

Public holiday transfer

The Holidays Act allows an employer and employee to agree in writing to transfer a public holiday to any 24 hour period:

This means with agreement a public holiday may be transferred:

  • By a few hours to match shift arrangements
  • To a completely different day

In the absence of a written agreement, a public holiday is observed midnight to midnight.