Public holiday wages: how to plan the cash before the holiday hits

Public holidays are good news for staff and often good news for sales. But for anyone running payroll, they’re a cost that’s easy to underestimate — and, because they close the banking system, they can also shift when money needs to be in the account. A little planning a few weeks out makes them just another line in the budget.

This guide covers the cost side, the timing side and how the two interact, with the dates to watch for the rest of 2026.

Why do public holidays cost money whether you open or close?

Because the rules work in both directions. The Fair Work Ombudsman starts from the principle that “all employees have a right to be absent from work on a public holiday”, and the Fair Work Act sets out how payment works:

If you…	Permanent staff (full-time, part-time)	Casual staff
Close for the holiday	Generally paid their ordinary hours if they would normally have worked that day	Generally not paid if they don’t work
Open and they work	Paid the public holiday rate set by their award or agreement	Paid the public holiday rate set by their award or agreement
Open but they don’t work	Generally paid their ordinary hours if it’s a normal working day	Not paid

The exact public holiday rates depend on the award or enterprise agreement covering each employee, and many awards set higher public holiday rates than ordinary time. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay and wages section and its pay tools are the place to check the numbers for your industry.

The practical upshot: a hospitality business that opens pays more for the same hours; a professional services firm that closes pays for a day with no billable work. Either way, the week’s wage bill goes up relative to what the business earns.

How do you estimate the extra wage cost?

A simple method, done a few weeks ahead:

1. List who’s rostered, or would normally work, on the holiday.
2. For those working: hours × their public holiday rate under their award or agreement.
3. For permanent staff not working: ordinary hours × their base rate.
4. Add super on the relevant earnings.
5. Compare with a normal day to see the true extra cost.

Then set it against what the holiday brings in. For a waterfront café on Australia Day, the takings may justify it easily. For a trades business that loses a working day on a Monday, it’s a straight cost that needs to be covered from the rest of the week.

When does the money need to be in the account?

This is the part people miss. Public holidays close the Reserve Bank’s settlement system when they’re national holidays observed in NSW and Victoria, and banks’ batch payments — including payroll files — follow banking business days. If payday falls on a holiday, or the day after a long weekend, the payroll file may need to be lodged on the last business day before the break.

Your payday	Holiday situation	When the file may need to go
Monday	Monday is a public holiday	The Friday before
Tuesday	Monday is a public holiday	The Friday before, depending on your bank’s cut-off
Friday	Good Friday	The Thursday before
Thursday 24 December 2026	Christmas break follows	Wednesday 23 December, depending on cut-off

Check your own bank’s cut-off times — they vary — and see our page on bank cut-off times for how batch payments work.

If a holiday pay run will leave the account short, send your enquiry now rather than the night before. There’s no credit check when you first enquire.

How does Payday Super interact with public holidays?

Since 1 July 2026, super has to be paid with each pay run. The ATO says contributions are on time if received by the employee’s fund within 7 business days after payday. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays that apply across a whole state or territory aren’t business days for this purpose — “even if you are not in that state or territory”.

That gives a little more time for super around holidays. It doesn’t give more time for wages, which are due on payday under the employee’s award, agreement or contract. And because super now lands with every pay cycle, a holiday week’s higher wages also means a higher super payment in the same week.

Which holidays should you plan for over the rest of 2026?

Based on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s 2026 list:

• Monday 5 October 2026: King’s Birthday in Queensland.
• Tuesday 3 November 2026: Melbourne Cup in Victoria.
• Thursday 24 December 2026, from 7pm to midnight: Christmas Eve part-day holiday in the Northern Territory and South Australia.
• Friday 25 December 2026: Christmas Day, all states and territories.
• Saturday 26 December 2026: Boxing Day, with an additional public holiday on Monday 28 December in every state and territory.
• Thursday 31 December 2026, from 7pm to midnight: New Year’s Eve part-day holiday in the Northern Territory and South Australia.
• Friday 1 January 2027: New Year’s Day.

For hospitality and retail in SA and the NT, those two evening part-day holidays can make late shifts noticeably more expensive. For everyone, the Christmas stretch combines higher wage costs with four closed banking days — our Christmas and New Year page sets out the closed days one by one.

How do you avoid getting public holiday pay wrong?

Underpaying staff is expensive to fix and damaging to trust, so it’s worth a check before each holiday:

• Confirm the award or agreement for each employee, and the public holiday rate it sets.
• Check your payroll software’s settings for holiday pay items, especially if you’ve added new staff or changed awards this year.
• Watch part-day holidays such as the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve evenings in SA and the NT.
• Keep records of who worked, the hours and the rates applied.
• Use the Fair Work Ombudsman’s tools or a payroll adviser if you’re unsure.

Getting it right first time also avoids back-payments landing in a later, tighter month.

Should you open or close on a public holiday?

It’s a commercial decision, and the numbers usually make it for you. A few questions to answer honestly:

• Do the extra sales cover the extra wages? Use real figures from the same holiday last year if you have them.
• Can you run with a smaller team? Fewer staff on higher rates may be better than a full roster.
• Are staff willing? Requests to work must be reasonable, and employees can refuse on reasonable grounds. Rostering volunteers first tends to go better.
• What do customers expect? Some businesses lose goodwill by closing; others lose nothing.
• What does the holiday do to your supply chain? Suppliers closed for the day may make opening harder.

Illustrative example: the Christmas roster

Illustrative example only; no real business is described.

A café owner in Adelaide plans her Christmas period in early November. She’ll close on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and open on the additional holiday on Monday 28 December, when the beachside foot traffic is strong. Her permanent barista and cook are paid their ordinary hours for the Friday they’d normally work. The Monday roster uses four staff at public holiday rates, and she notes the Christmas Eve evening part-day holiday that applies in South Australia for the one late function she’s booked.

Adding it up, she sees the wage bill for the fortnight rises noticeably while takings over the closed days fall. Her payday is Tuesday 29 December, so the payroll file can go on Tuesday morning — but only if the account is covered after four closed banking days of lower income. She talks to her accountant about a small buffer in early December, rather than finding out on 28 December.

Build the holiday into the budget

Public holidays aren’t a surprise; they’re printed on the calendar a year ahead. The businesses that get caught are the ones that treat them as normal weeks.

If a holiday week is going to leave your account short, it’s much easier to sort out a week or two ahead than the night before. The enquiry is a sixty-second job, and there’s no credit check at this stage. Your details don’t get spread across a pile of lenders — one team reads them, and a real person calls you. Please be accurate about the amount and the pay dates involved, so we can match you with the right option straight away. See if you qualify. If it’s already the night before payday, our payroll short page has the first steps.