Part-day public holidays: Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve

What a part-day holiday is

A part-day public holiday is exactly what it sounds like: a public holiday that covers only some hours of a day. In Australia they exist in three jurisdictions and only on two dates, the evenings of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. They were introduced so that people working those evenings, mostly in hospitality, retail and emergency services, are paid public holiday rates while the rest of the day stays ordinary.

Because the holiday starts in the evening, it does not give anyone a day off. Someone working 9 to 5 on Christmas Eve is at work as normal. It is also not counted by this site as a day for the long weekend planner, and the tables mark it with a note rather than a full row.

Where and when

South Australia introduced its part-day holidays in 2012, the Northern Territory followed, and Queensland added a Christmas Eve part-day holiday from 6pm more recently. Unlike full-day holidays, part-days are not moved when they fall on a weekend: a Saturday Christmas Eve in Adelaide is still a public holiday from 7pm.

What it means for pay

Under the national employment standards, a part-day public holiday is treated as a public holiday for the hours it covers. If you would normally work those hours and your employer does not need you, you are entitled to be absent and paid your base rate for them. If you do work, the public holiday penalty rate in your award or agreement applies to the hours after the holiday starts. Hours before it are paid at the ordinary evening or weekend rate.

A shift that straddles the start time is split. A hospitality worker in Darwin rostered 4pm to midnight on New Year's Eve is on ordinary rates until 7pm and public holiday rates from 7pm. Employers who want to avoid the split sometimes end shifts at the holiday start, which is legal as long as the roster is set in advance under the award rules.

Trading and services

Part-day holidays do not close shops. Retail trading hours on Christmas Eve are set separately by each state and are usually extended rather than restricted. Public transport runs its ordinary or holiday-period timetable. The practical effect of the part-day holiday is almost entirely on wages.

If you are checking a specific year, the state pages for South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland list the part-day holidays with their hours under the December rows.

Why they exist at all

Part-day holidays are a compromise. Unions in South Australia argued that Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve evenings were effectively holiday time for everyone except the people serving them, and asked for full public holidays. Employers argued that closing shops on the two busiest trading evenings of the year would cost jobs. The evening-only holiday gives the workers penalty rates for the hours that matter most without forcing anything to close, which is why the other states that adopted the idea copied the model rather than declaring full days.

They are also a good example of how a state can create a public holiday that the national list does not mention. The Fair Work Act recognises any day, or part-day, declared under state law, so a 7pm start in Adelaide carries the same legal weight for those hours as Christmas Day itself. Other states have considered the idea from time to time, and this page will be updated if any adopts it.