You are entitled to paid public holidays if you work part-time. However, you may agree with your employer to encash the public holidays instead.
Entitlement
As a part-time employee, you are entitled to paid public holidays. Your public holiday pay should be pro-rated based on the number of hours you work.
Your pay is pro-rated as follows:
No. of working hours per year of a part-time employee
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No. of working hours per year of a similar full-time employee
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x
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No. of days of public holiday of a similar full-time employee with equal length of service
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x
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No. of working hours in a day of a similar full-time employee
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A part-timer works 22 hours per week, versus similar full-timer's 44 hours. The part-timer's annual entitlement is:
- [(22 hours x 52 weeks) / (44 hours x 52 weeks)] x 11 public holidays x 8 hours = 44 hours of pay for all 11 public holidays
Therefore, for every public holiday, the part-time employee should be paid: (44 hours / 11 days) = 4 hours
Encashing public holidays
Instead of getting paid for the holidays, you may agree with your employer to encash the public holidays and add it into your hourly gross rate of pay. Such an agreement should be clearly stated in the contract of service.
The formula for encashing public holidays is:
Annual entitlement to public holidays of the part-time employee (in hours)
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Weekly working hours of that part-time Employee x 52 weeks
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x
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Hourly gross rate of pay
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If the hourly gross rate of pay is $5, the encashed amount added to the hourly gross rate of pay is:
[44 hours / (22 hours x 52 weeks)] x $5 = $0.19
Hence, the total hourly gross rate of pay including encashed public holidays is $5.19.
Pay for working on a public holiday
If you are required to work on a public holiday, you should be paid the following:
- Basic rate of pay for 1 day's work.
- Amount entitled to for a public holiday.
- One day's travel allowance if included in the contract.