Public Holidays Work and Pay

Christmas and New Years is always a busy time - both for workers and most employers.

You need to know when you have to work public holidays, what you should get paid and when you can get a paid holiday - because there are special rules about pay and getting time off.

Click below to go to the specific information you need:

(Note that the information below is based on the legal minimums required. Some collective employment agreements have better pay and conditions for public holidays - check your own employment agreement).

2022-23 Christmas and New Years Holidays

Christmas Day - 25th December

Christmas Day is a Sunday. If you normally work Sundays then Sunday is your Christmas Day public holiday – whether you actually work it or not.

If you don’t normally work Sunday then your Christmas Day public holiday is Tuesday 27th December – if you normally work on a Tuesday.

If you don’t normally work Sundays or Tuesdays then you are not entitled to a Christmas day public holiday.

(click here to see how you work out if you "normally work" on any day of the week)

If you actually work on Sunday and/or Tuesday you should get time and half for any hours worked on one of those days.

Boxing Day - 26th December

Boxing Day is on Monday 26th. If you normally work Mondays then this is a public holiday for you. If you don’t normally work Mondays then you are not entitled to a Boxing Day public holiday.

If you work you should get time and half pay for any hours worked on this day.

New Years Day - 1st January

New Years Day (January 1st) is a Sunday. If you normally work Sundays then Sunday is your New Years Day public holiday – whether you actually work it or not.

If you don’t normally work Sunday the your New Years Day public holiday is on Tuesday 3rd January – if you normally work on a Tuesday.

If you don’t normally work Sundays or Tuesdays then you are not entitled to a New Years Day public holiday.

If you actually work on Sunday and/or Tuesday you should get time and half for any hours worked on one of those days.

2nd January

The day after New Years Day is on Monday 2nd January. If you normally work Mondays then this is a public holiday for you. If you don’t normally work Mondays then you are not entitled to a January 2nd public holiday.

If you work you should get time and half pay for any hours worked on this day.

Getting paid for working a public holiday

If you work on a public holiday then you usually get extra pay.

You should get at least “time and a half”: that is your normal hourly pay plus 50%. If your normal rate is $22 per hour, then any work on a public holiday should be paid at $33 an hour. Multiply your normal hourly rate by 1.5 to get your public holiday minimum rate.

This would include any time worked after midnight for a shift that started the day before the holiday. So if you are working New Year’s Eve and finish at 2am on New Years Day then the two hours from midnight need to paid at least as “time and a half”.

The only exceptions are if you previously agreed to transfer your public holiday to another day altogether, or if you are entitled to some other penal rates and you would be paid more than time and half anyway. These exceptions will not apply to most hospo workers.

Getting a paid day off

Where a public holiday falls on a day of the week that you normally work (known as “otherwise a working day “ in the law) then you are entitled to a paid day off – either on the public holiday itself or on another day (which are called “alternate holidays” or sometimes “lieu days”). This is to make sure you do actually get a day off, even if it is later because you have to work on a public holiday.

If you work the same days each week then it is easy to figure out. But many workers have rosters that change week to week and that makes it a bit harder to know. Your employment agreement may actually state how to work out if a day is “otherwise a working day” – but most don’t.

Some employers think that only the few weeks immediately before a public holiday need to be considered – this is wrong. Normally work doesn’t mean you have to work that day every week all the time. If your rostered days can change week to week then a good rule of thumb is whether or not you have worked a majority of those weekdays in the months leading up to the public holiday.

For example, Christmas day is a Sunday and if you have worked eight of the previous twelve Sundays before Xmas:

You work on Christmas day: you should be paid time and a half AND you should get an alternative holiday – a paid day off you can take later after agreeing on a date with your employer.
You don’t work on Christmas day: You should be paid what you would have been paid normally (not time and a half – you only get that if you work on the day – but rather your “relevant daily pay” or “average daily pay” if your hours and pay vary a lot week to week).

You could also look at the previous month (three out of four days worked should qualify as a normal working day) or the previous two months (five or more out of eight or nine weeks) or even the previous six months. If you worked more than half of those weekdays for any of those periods then that weekday is “otherwise a working day” for you.

If you don’t get public holiday pay or an alternate holiday when you think you should have. ask your employer to check with their payroll person that they have got it right. The Employment New Zealand website has good tools for employers to use to make sure they get it right.

Any time worked on a public holiday will mean you get a whole day’s extra leave if it is a normal working day. So two hours worked on New Years day will be paid at time and a half and result in a whole days paid holiday – even though you only worked two hours on the public holiday (or one hour or even ten minutes).

So make sure the exact times you started and finished work on or around public holidays are accurately recorded. Keeping your own records is a good idea – mobile phones are great tools for this.

When do you have to work on a public holiday?

Many businesses are open on public holidays as they are usually some of the busiest trading days of the year. That means many workers have employment agreements that state they have to work public holidays if required, as long as they are on a day they are normally available for work.

If your agreement does not state that you have to work public holidays then it is your choice whether to work if asked.

So, if you never work Sundays and your employer knows you are not available on Sundays, you do not have to work on a public holiday that falls on a Sunday unless you want to.

If you are normally available to work Sundays when needed and your agreement states you are required to work public holidays then you would need to work that public holiday if asked.

You can, of course, still apply for leave if you want the day off, but your employer does not have to approve it. Because it likely to be a busy day in many businesses a refusal of leave will generally be considered justified.

If you are allowed leave on a public holiday it should be paid at your normal rate – you can’t be made to use annual or other paid leave.

Many public holidays are “Mondayised” – which means if they fall on a Saturday or Sunday then the paid holiday falls on the following Monday or Tuesday for those who don’t normally work weekends. This year that means the Christmas Day public holiday will be Tuesday 27th December for those who don'r normally work on a Sunday.

If you do normally work on a Sunday (as many workers do) then the public holiday for you is the actual day – the Sunday.

If a public holiday falls on a day you don’t normally work then it simply does not apply to you at all.

Links to other information on Public Holidays

All public holidays in Aotearoa listed

Information for you and your employer about how to work out if you are entitled to an alternate holiday