Public holiday dates and payrates under EB7

Published: 21 April 2011

The Queensland Government recently announced changes to the Holidays Act 1983 to create two additional public holidays with respect to Christmas Day in 2010 and New Year’s Day in 2011.

The changes arise because both of these public holidays will fall on Saturdays. The following four days are now public holidays:

Christmas Day

25 December, 2010 (Saturday) and;
28 December, 2010 (Tuesday)

New Year’s Day

1 January, 2011 (Saturday) and;
3 January, 2011 (Monday)

Members should also note that Sunday 26 December is not a public holiday. Employees who work on this day will be paid normal Sunday penalty rates. The declared Boxing Day public holiday will instead fall on Monday 27 December. Employees who work on this day will be paid the appropriate public holiday rate in accordance with their award.

Changes to Easter Monday and Anzac Day public holidays

The Queensland Government has also recently announced changes to the dates of Easter Monday and Anzac Day in 2011, as both of these public holidays were scheduled to fall on Monday
25 April.

The Easter Monday public holiday has now been shifted to Tuesday 26 April, while Anzac Day will fall on Monday 25 April. The official dates for public holidays over Easter in 2011 will be:

Good Friday Friday 22 April
Easter Saturday Saturday 23 April
Anzac Day Monday 25 April
Easter Monday Tuesday 26 April

Public holiday payrates under EB7

The amount you earn for working on a public holiday depends on the relevant employment conditions in the Nurses and Midwives (Queensland Health) Certified Agreement (EB7) 2009.

Nurses and midwives in public hospitals

The relevant conditions for nurses and midwives in public hospitals is set out in Schedule 6 of EB7.

Full-time and part-time employees:

* Nurses and midwives working on 25 December are paid double time and a half if it occurs from Monday through to Saturday, and double time and three quarters if it occurs on a Sunday. Due to recent changes to the Holidays Act 1983, nurses and midwives working on Tuesday 28 December 2010 will also receive double time and a half.

Part-time employees who usually work on a day of the week on which a public holiday falls, and who are not required to work or who are rostered off duty on that day, must be paid for the hours which would otherwise have been worked that day.

Employees rostered off on Labour Day, Exhibition Day, or Easter Saturday must be paid an additional day’s wage, or granted a day’s holiday in lieu at a time arranged with the employer, or have an extra day of annual leave added to their annual leave bank. This condition does not apply in respect to Easter Saturday for employees who are not ordinarily required to work on weekends.

Casual employees required to work on public holidays must be paid double time and a half.

Please note that the table beside does not apply to nurses employed in dental hospitals and dental clinics, who must be paid double time and a half on all public holidays.

Nurses in the public sector (outside public hospitals)

The relevant conditions for nurses in the public sector is set out in Schedule 7 of EB7.

Nurses in psychiatric hospitals, Eventide Homes, community nurses, offender health nurses, and other nurses not covered elsewhere in the award are entitled to double time and a half on public holidays. If not required to work, such nurses are entitled to payment at normal time.

Senior psychiatric hospital nurses (Grade 9 and above) may take equivalent time off instead, or have that time added to their annual leave.

Part-time employees who usually work on a day of the week on which a public holiday falls and who are not required to work on that day must be paid for the hours they would otherwise have worked that day.

Nurses working in Alcohol and Drug Dependence Services have identical entitlements to nurses working in public hospitals – please refer to the entitlements detailed above for nurses in public hospitals.

Contact:

Phone:

Join Now