Did I work on the Public Holiday?
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- Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 February 2025 14:31
There are varying interpretations that can apply, one is to do with being On Call.
The first requirement for receiving an Alternative Day is that the Public Holiday concerned would otherwise be a working day. If it was an employees rostered off weekend it's not a working day. i.e Some Public Holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday and for most employees it's just a normal unpaid day - no different from a normal weekend. If your rostered weekend happened to be Monday and Tuesday then Public Holidays falling on those days have no effect. In both cases the employee was free to enjoy the holiday.
If it was a working day and the employee was required to interrupt his Holiday to attend to some matter at work, then the employee must be paid for that time, however short, at the appropriate rate and receive a whole Alternative Day because of the interruption to his Holiday.
On Call employees are treated exactly the same as above if Called out. While On Call, if the employee has his "freedom of action" affected to the point of not really getting the benefit of the Public Holiday, then an Alternative Day is owed even though no work was performed. E.g. The family goes to the beach for the day, but the employee cannot because there is no cell phone coverage there.
Note there is nothing specifically in the Act to cover some situations. For example, an IT person might reset an employers dead web server. If the employee was able to do this via a remote log-in from his phone for 30 seconds, has he worked? From the Act's point of view it likely depends on if he was required to do this or was it on his own initiative.
We think he has worked and should be rewarded with an Alternative Day. The employer should perhaps take the view of how the business could have been affected. An E-commerce site may have since transacted much business because of the employees actions, and this should be recognized.