Quick answer
In Australia, “holiday pay” can mean either pay while taking annual leave or pay connected with a public holiday.
For annual leave, an employee is generally paid their current base rate of pay for the ordinary hours of leave taken. Annual leave loading may also apply if an award or enterprise agreement provides for it.
For a public holiday not worked, eligible full-time and part-time employees are generally paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would normally have worked that day. If an employee works on a public holiday, the applicable award, enterprise agreement or other registered agreement may provide a higher penalty rate or another entitlement.
What this means
The basic pay rules come from Australia’s national workplace relations system, but the public holiday itself depends on the state or territory where you work. There are three different situations to separate.
Annual leave pay. When an employee takes paid annual leave, the basic calculation is current base rate of pay × ordinary leave hours taken. If an employee takes 7.6 ordinary hours of annual leave, they are generally paid their current base rate for those 7.6 hours. The base rate generally does not include overtime, penalty rates, allowances or bonuses. An award or enterprise agreement may require annual leave loading.
Annual leave loading. This is an extra payment some employees receive when taking annual leave. It does not apply to every employee, and the amount depends on the award, enterprise agreement or other workplace terms.
Pay when you do not work on a public holiday. Full-time and part-time employees are generally entitled to their base rate for ordinary hours they would normally have worked. If you do not ordinarily work that day, you are generally not entitled to payment simply because it is a public holiday.
Working on a public holiday. There is no single Australian public-holiday pay multiplier. Awards and agreements can provide higher penalty rates, a minimum number of paid hours, an additional day off, extra annual leave, or an agreed substitute public holiday.
Public holidays during annual leave. If a public holiday falls during paid annual leave on a day the employee would ordinarily work, it generally does not come out of the annual-leave balance.
Common scenarios
You are taking annual leave. Multiply your current base rate by the ordinary hours of leave taken, then check whether annual leave loading or another workplace rule applies.
You are not working on a public holiday. If the holiday falls on a day you would ordinarily work, you are generally paid your base rate for those ordinary hours.
The public holiday falls on your usual day off. You generally do not receive payment solely because the day is a public holiday, unless another rule provides an entitlement.
You are working on a public holiday. Check your award or enterprise agreement. Do not assume a universal rate such as “double time” or “double time and a half”.
You are part-time or casual. A part-time public-holiday payment depends on whether the holiday falls on a usual workday. Casual employees do not generally receive payment for a public holiday they do not work, but an applicable award may provide a public-holiday rate when they do work.
You are leaving your job. Untaken annual leave must generally be paid out when employment ends, including annual leave loading where it would have applied.
How to plan this in Offdays
Use Offdays to map annual leave against your ordinary workdays and the public holidays that apply in your state or territory. Mark public holidays separately from annual leave; if one falls on a day you would ordinarily work during a longer break, it generally should not be deducted from your annual-leave balance.
For budgeting, use your ordinary base rate as a starting point for estimating annual-leave pay. Do not use Offdays as a payroll calculator for annual leave loading or public-holiday penalty rates, because those amounts depend on the award, agreement and employment conditions that apply to you.
Browse the Australia guides for state and territory public-holiday planning, or return to the Offdays blog for more leave-planning guidance.
Final thoughts
Holiday pay in Australia depends on which situation you mean. Annual leave is generally paid at the employee’s current base rate for ordinary leave hours, with loading where the applicable award or agreement requires it. For a public holiday not worked, eligible full-time and part-time employees are generally paid their base rate for ordinary hours they would normally have worked. If you work on a public holiday, check the applicable award or enterprise agreement rather than applying a single national penalty-rate formula.
Is this the same across Australia?
The basic National Employment Standards rules are national for employees covered by Australia’s national workplace relations system. However, the dates recognised as public holidays vary by state and territory. Use the public-holiday calendar for the state or territory where you work before calculating pay or annual-leave usage.