Easter 2026 Pay: Did Your Boss Get It Right? Check Your Payslip

Quick answer first. Easter 2026 falls early, and if you worked any of the four days you should be checking your payslip closely this week. Here's the exact gazetted picture.

• Good Friday — Friday 3 April 2026: Public holiday in all states and territories. No exceptions.
• Easter Saturday — Saturday 4 April 2026: Public holiday in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, ACT and NT. NOT a public holiday in Tasmania or Western Australia.
• Easter Sunday — Sunday 5 April 2026: Public holiday in NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT and NT. Not gazetted as a public holiday in SA, WA or TAS.
• Easter Monday — Monday 6 April 2026: Public holiday in all states and territories.

So depending on where you work, you had either three or four public holidays over the long weekend. That's a very big deal for pay because public holiday penalty rates are the highest multiplier in the system. Getting them wrong — or "forgetting" to apply them — is one of the single most common underpayment issues the Fair Work Ombudsman sees.

And yes, it happens a lot. The FWO recovered more than $41 million in public holiday underpayments in 2024-25 alone. Most of those cases started with a worker noticing a dodgy payslip. Today's the day to look at yours.

Penalty rates for public holidays are set by modern awards and enterprise agreements, with the National Employment Standards (s.114 Fair Work Act) providing the baseline entitlement to the day off or to penalty rates if you work.

Here are the standard multipliers across the most common awards (Hospitality, Retail, Restaurant, Fast Food, Clerks, Aged Care, General Retail). Check your specific award because details vary.

Full-time and part-time employees (permanent):

• Public holiday worked: 2.25x ordinary rate (225%) under most awards
• Some awards (Manufacturing, Storage Services): 2.5x (250%)
• Plus your normal paid day off if you don't work it: you're entitled to be paid your ordinary rate for the public holiday even if you don't work

Casual employees:

• Public holiday worked: 2.5x ordinary rate (250%) under most awards — this already includes the 25% casual loading baked in
• Some awards go higher: Clerks Private Sector Award sits at 2.75x (275%) for casuals on public holidays
• Casuals do NOT get paid for public holidays they don't work (no guaranteed hours, no paid day off)

The distinction matters. A full-timer who doesn't work Good Friday still gets paid their ordinary 7.6-hour day. A casual who wasn't rostered gets nothing.

Worked example. Sarah is a casual hospitality worker with a base ordinary rate of $30/hr. She works an 8-hour shift on Easter Saturday in Melbourne.

• Hourly rate with public holiday penalty: $30 × 2.5 = $75/hr
• Gross pay for the shift: $75 × 8 = $600

If Sarah's payslip shows $480 (double time only), or $420 (1.75x), or any figure meaningfully below $600, she's been underpaid and is entitled to the difference. Use our penalty rates calculator to run your own numbers.

This catches thousands of workers every year. Easter Saturday is a public holiday in most states but not in Tasmania or Western Australia. If you work in either of those states, your 4 April 2026 shift was a normal Saturday, not a public holiday, and penalty rates apply accordingly.

Tasmania: Easter Saturday is not gazetted as a public holiday under the Statutory Holidays Act 2000 (Tas). Some enterprise agreements in Tasmania treat it as one, and you should check your EA. But the default under the NES and the modern award is that Tasmanian workers on Easter Saturday 2026 received only normal Saturday penalty rates (typically 50% loading for casuals in hospitality, 25% for permanents).

Western Australia: WA's Public and Bank Holidays Act 1972 does not list Easter Saturday. Only Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Same pattern as Tasmania: normal Saturday rates apply unless an enterprise agreement says otherwise.

A few other state-by-state quirks worth knowing:

• South Australia: Easter Saturday is a public holiday, but only from 7am to midnight. A shift that started at 6am Saturday morning runs on ordinary Saturday rates for the first hour, then flips to public holiday rates from 7am.
• Northern Territory: Full public holiday status for both Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. Among the most generous states for Easter workers.
• Queensland: Easter Saturday is technically a "show day"-class public holiday under the Holidays Act 1983, meaning penalty rates apply but some provisions around substitution differ.

The key point: the state where the work is actually performed is what matters, not where your employer is headquartered. A worker for a national retail chain who worked Easter Saturday at a Perth store gets Saturday rates; their colleague at a Sydney store gets public holiday rates.

The trickiest payslips to check are the ones that look right but aren't. Here's exactly what to look for when you've worked an Easter shift.

1. Hours by rate band. A well-formatted payslip will separate hours into rate bands: ordinary, time-and-a-half, double time, double-and-a-half, etc. Each public holiday shift should appear on its own line with the correct multiplier applied. If your payslip just shows "20 hours — $X", that's a red flag.

2. Date of work. The pay period should clearly cover the public holiday dates. Easter 2026 (3-6 April) falls across two standard fortnightly pay cycles for most employers, so you might need to check both your 10 April and 24 April payslips depending on your pay schedule.

3. Ordinary rate used for the calculation. Public holiday penalties are calculated on your ordinary base rate. For casuals, they're usually calculated on the base rate before the 25% casual loading (the loading is then added on top, which is how the standard 2.5x arrives: 2.25x + 0.25 casual loading, or other stacking arrangements depending on the award). Some employers calculate on a rate that's too low. Cross-check against the current award rate for your classification.

4. Award or enterprise agreement name. Your payslip should show which instrument governs your pay. If you're unsure, look at the "classification" field. Common examples: "Hospitality Level 3", "Retail Level 1", "Clerks Level 2". Your award determines the multiplier, so this field matters.

5. Public holiday hours worked vs hours paid. If you worked Good Friday and Easter Monday (4 hours each, 8 hours total), those 8 hours should appear at the public holiday rate. If your payslip shows only 4 hours at public holiday rate and 4 hours at normal rate, someone's made an error.

6. Minimum engagement. If you were called in for a short shift, some awards require minimum engagement periods (e.g., 3 hours minimum at public holiday rates, even if you only worked 1). Check your award. The General Retail Industry Award 2020 requires a 3-hour minimum; the Hospitality Award 2020 also has minimum engagement rules.

Keep a photo of your payslip alongside a dated screenshot of the current award rates from fairwork.gov.au. If you end up needing to recover an underpayment, that contemporaneous comparison is gold.

Section 114 of the Fair Work Act 2009 is the foundation stone for public holiday pay. Every worker in the national system (not just award-covered workers) has these entitlements, and they cannot be contracted out of.

s.114(1) Entitlement: An employee is entitled to be absent from work on a day or part-day that is a public holiday in the place where the employee is based for work purposes.

s.114(2) Paid day off: If a full-time or part-time employee would ordinarily have worked the public holiday, they are entitled to be paid at their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked.

s.114(3) Reasonable request to work: An employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable. The employee may refuse if the refusal is also reasonable.

s.114(4) Factors for reasonableness: The legislation lists factors including the nature of the employer's workplace, the employee's personal circumstances (including family responsibilities), whether the employee is entitled to penalty rates, the notice given, and the type of employment.

Crucially: the Federal Court's decision in CFMMEU v OS MCAP Pty Ltd [2023] FCAFC 51 confirmed that employers must ask whether employees can work a public holiday. They cannot unilaterally roster workers on without inquiry into personal circumstances. This is a change from pre-2023 practice where many employers treated public holiday rostering as a one-way imposition.

If your employer rostered you onto Easter 2026 without asking whether you could work (or whether the roster was reasonable), that's potentially a contravention of s.114 separate from any underpayment issue. General protections provisions under s.340 also apply if you were punished for declining.

Penalty rates themselves are set by awards and agreements, not by s.114 directly. But s.114 is what gives you the underlying right to the public holiday and the protection against being forced to work one unreasonably.

Found a problem? Here's how to recover it. Don't put it in the drawer: you have up to six years, but the fresher the claim, the easier the evidence.

Step 1: Calculate what you're owed. Use our penalty rates calculator and pay calculator. Write it out: "Easter Saturday 8 hours × $30 × 2.5 = $600. Received: $480. Underpayment: $120." Do this for each day.

Step 2: Ask for the payslip explanation in writing. Email your manager or payroll: "Hi, I worked Easter Saturday (4 April) but my payslip shows the rate calculated at 2x rather than the 2.5x casual public holiday rate under the Hospitality Award. Can you confirm the rate applied and explain the calculation?" Keep it polite. You're gathering evidence.

Step 3: Wait for a response (7 days is fair). Many underpayments are processing errors that get fixed without argument when flagged. Payroll software sometimes misreads state configurations, or a manager has manually overridden a rate. If the fix comes through on your next pay, you're done.

Step 4: Escalate in writing if refused. If the employer refuses or ignores you, send a formal written demand: "I don't agree with the pay rate applied to my Easter 2026 shifts. Under [award name] and s.114 of the Fair Work Act, I'm entitled to [X] for my work on [dates]. The shortfall of $[Y] should be paid within 14 days."

Step 5: Lodge with the Fair Work Ombudsman. Free. Online form at fairwork.gov.au. Takes about 15 minutes to lodge. The FWO will contact the employer, investigate, and in most cases facilitate a back-payment. Average resolution for straightforward public holiday underpayments is 4-8 weeks.

Step 6: Small claims at the Federal Circuit Court. For underpayments the FWO can't resolve, or where you want to move faster, you can bring a small claims proceeding for amounts up to $100,000. Filing fee is around $190. No lawyer required. The court's been strict on public holiday underpayment cases: judges don't like them.

Time limit: 6 years from the date of the underpayment, under s.544 of the Fair Work Act. Don't wait.

And if you were punished for asking about your pay (hours cut, shifts taken away, dismissed), that's a general protections contravention under s.340, with a 21-day window to lodge with the Fair Work Commission. That one moves fast. Act quickly if you think you've been retaliated against.

Four real-world examples for the most common Easter worker types. Check if your numbers line up.

Example 1: Hospitality casual, Level 3, Melbourne. Base rate ~$30.10/hr, casual loading already included. Worked 8 hours on Easter Saturday (public holiday in VIC).

• Public holiday rate for casuals under Hospitality Award 2020: 2.5x base (inclusive of casual loading)
• 8 × $30.10 × 2.5 = $602.00

Example 2: Retail permanent part-timer, GRIA Level 2, Sydney. Base rate ~$26.83/hr. Worked 6 hours on Good Friday.

• Public holiday rate for permanents under General Retail Industry Award 2020: 2.25x base
• 6 × $26.83 × 2.25 = $362.21
• Also entitled to paid public holiday (if they didn't work it, they'd still get their ordinary hours)

Example 3: Aged care casual personal care worker, Brisbane. Base rate ~$28.87/hr. Worked an 8-hour shift on Easter Monday.

• Public holiday rate for casuals under Aged Care Award: 2.5x base
• 8 × $28.87 × 2.5 = $577.40

Example 4: Manufacturing tradesperson C10, permanent full-time, Adelaide. Base rate ~$29.14/hr. Worked 10 hours on Easter Saturday (public holiday in SA from 7am).

• Shift started 6am to 4pm. First hour (6-7am) at ordinary Saturday rate (1.5x).
• Remaining 9 hours (7am-4pm) at public holiday rate (2.5x under Manufacturing Award).
• 1 × $29.14 × 1.5 = $43.71
• 9 × $29.14 × 2.5 = $655.65
• Total: $699.36

If your shift crossed midnight into Easter Sunday or Monday, that adds another layer. Work out each day separately, because the rate resets at midnight.

Was Easter Saturday 2026 a public holiday in every state?
No. It was a public holiday in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, ACT and NT but NOT in Tasmania or Western Australia. Check your state's gazetted list.

I'm a casual — do I get paid if I didn't work the public holiday?
No. Casuals have no guaranteed hours, so there's no entitlement to be paid for a public holiday you weren't rostered on. That's the trade-off for the 25% casual loading.

Can my boss refuse to pay public holiday rates if I'm on a salary?
Generally no. If you're covered by an award or agreement, penalty rates must still be paid unless your contract specifies a "set-off" salary that explicitly covers public holiday penalties. Even then, the set-off must be at least as favourable as award rates — this is the "better off overall test" (BOOT). Many "all-in" salaries are unlawfully under-set.

My roster was changed last-minute and I was forced to work Easter Monday. What can I do?
Under s.114(3)-(4) of the Fair Work Act, an employer can only reasonably request you to work a public holiday. A refusal is also reasonable if you have family or personal circumstances. Following CFMMEU v OS MCAP Pty Ltd [2023] FCAFC 51, employers must ask before rostering, not simply impose. If you were forced under threat, that's a general protections issue.

How far back can I claim unpaid public holiday rates?
Up to 6 years under s.544 Fair Work Act. If you've worked multiple Easters for the same employer and spotted a pattern, you can go back as far as 2020.