Christmas Day, Boxing Day & NYE pay rates 2026 — by award

The Christmas-NYE public holidays for 2026-27 in every Australian state and territory:

• Christmas Day — Friday 25 December 2026
• Boxing Day (public-holiday substitute) — Monday 28 December 2026 (the actual date 26 Dec falls on a Saturday)
• New Year's Day — Friday 1 January 2027

South Australia and the Northern Territory have part-day public holidays for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (typically 7pm-midnight) — relevant if you work in retail or hospitality in those states.

Public-holiday penalty rates for working on a gazetted public holiday, by major modern award:

• Hospitality (MA000009, cl 29.2): 225% adult permanent / 250% adult casual
• General Retail (MA000004, cl 22.1): 225% adult permanent / 250% adult casual (250%/275% applies only to overtime worked on a public holiday)
• Restaurant (MA000119, cl 24.2): 225% adult permanent / 250% adult casual
• Fast Food (MA000003, cl 21): 225% adult permanent / 250% adult casual
• Clerks Private Sector (MA000002, cl 24.4): 250% adult permanent / 275% adult casual
• SCHADS (MA000100, disability/aged care): 250% adult
• Manufacturing (MA000010): 250% adult
• Nurses (MA000034): 200% adult permanent (casuals: 200% of the casual rate)
• Building & Construction (MA000020): 250% adult (some allowance variations)

Junior rates: the public-holiday percentage applies to the junior minimum rate. A 19-year-old casual under the Hospitality Award (85% junior rate) is paid 250% of the junior minimum rate on Christmas Day — about $56/hr gross from 1 July 2026.

Awards set a separate casual public-holiday percentage that already includes the 25% casual loading, and it is applied to the minimum hourly rate — not to the casual rate. Under the Hospitality, Retail, Fast Food and Restaurant awards the casual figure is 250% (the permanent 225% plus 25 points); under the Clerks Award it is 275%.

Example: Hospitality adult Level 1 minimum rate from 1 July 2026 is $26.44/hr. A casual working Christmas Day is paid 250% × $26.44 = $66.10/hr gross (FWO Hospitality pay guide). Multiplying the $33.05 casual rate by a penalty would count the loading twice.

Permanent (full-time and part-time) employees who would normally have worked a day that's a public holiday are paid at their normal rate of pay for the day off — no deduction from leave balance, no "no work, no pay". This is NES section 116.

If a permanent employee works the public holiday, they are paid the award's public-holiday rate for the hours they work instead of the ordinary day's pay — not both. So if you're on a full-time hospitality contract and you work an 8-hour Christmas Day shift, you get 8 hours at 225% (Level 1: 8 × $59.49 = $475.92). Some awards let you agree to a different arrangement, such as an extra day of annual leave — check your award.

No. Fair Work Act s 114 says the employer can request public-holiday work; you can refuse if your refusal is reasonable. Reasonableness factors:

• Family responsibilities (especially with children)
• Personal circumstances (carer, religious, cultural)
• Nature of the role (hospitality vs office)
• Notice given (less notice = easier to refuse)
• Whether reasonable expectation of public-holiday work was set at hiring
• OT compensation and penalty rates offered

Hospitality, healthcare and emergency-services roles are typically reasonable to request. Pure Mon-Fri office roles typically are NOT.

If you were underpaid for a public holiday — either not paid the penalty rate, or as a permanent not paid for the day off — you have a clear underpayment claim. The Fair Work Act 6-year recovery limit means you can claim back to mid-2020 if you've been underpaid systematically.

Use the Back Pay Calculator to quantify what you're owed, the Christmas Shutdown Rights Checker for the full rights picture, and the FairWork Mate AI advisor for situation-specific answers.