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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.

Public holiday Sunday or Tuesday?
•
Christmas Day
Sunday 25 December 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

•
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

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.
If Sunday IS NOT normally a working day for the employee
Public holidays:
Christmas Day 2016 will be transferred to Tuesday 27 December 2016

New Year’s Day Sunday 1 January 2017 will be transferred to Tuesday 3 January 2017

Annual Holidays and public holidays
Public holiday transfer
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.

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.

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.

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.