Did you know that when a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, some people assume that the following Monday is treated as a public holiday? However, this is not the case.
This year Christmas falls on a Saturday and St. Stephens day is on a Sunday. If a public holiday falls on a weekend, employees do not have any automatic legal entitlement to have the next working day off work. When this happens – some employers might treat the following Monday as a public holiday but an employer can require employees to attend work on that day.
If a public holiday falls on a day that is not a normal working day for a business (for example, on Saturday or Sunday), employees are still entitled to the benefit for that public holiday.
When this happens employees are entitled to one of the following:
- A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
- An additional day of annual leave
- An additional day’s pay
Which benefit is given is at the discretion of the employer.
