Rostering public holidays without the fights

Public holidays are the days a venue most needs staff and staff least want to be there. The law threads that needle with one word: reasonable. You can ask anyone to work; they can refuse if your request is unreasonable, or if their refusal is reasonable.

The reasonable-request test

Whether a request (or a refusal) is reasonable turns on factors like:

• the nature of the business — a cafe trading every public holiday is different from an office;
• the person's role, and whether they'd normally be rostered that day;
• their personal circumstances — family, caring responsibilities, religious observance;
• how much notice you gave;
• what they get for it — penalty rates, or time off in lieu.

A hospitality venue asking its regular Saturday crew to work an Easter Saturday, with weeks of notice and public-holiday rates, is being reasonable. Telling someone on Thursday they're working Good Friday is not.

What it pays

Under the hospitality award (as at October 2026), working a public holiday pays 225% of the base rate for full-time and part-time staff, and 250% for casuals — the casual figure already includes the 25% loading (see penalty rates explained). If a permanent employee would normally have worked that day and doesn't, they get the day paid at ordinary rates. A casual who doesn't work gets nothing — casuals have no guaranteed hours to be paid for.

Filling the day fairly

• Volunteers first. At 250%, plenty of casuals want the shift. Ask before you assign.
• Rotate the rest. Keep a record of who worked the last few holidays so the same people aren't defaulted onto every one.
• Publish early. Notice is one of the reasonableness factors — a holiday visible on the roster three weeks out beats any argument about ambush.
• Confirm changes in writing. If someone agrees to swap a holiday for another day off, record it where both of you can see it.

Watch the state lines

Public holidays are declared by states and territories, and they differ — show days, part-day holidays like Christmas Eve evenings in some states, and substituted days when holidays fall on weekends. Check your state's current list each year rather than assuming last year's calendar; the Fair Work Ombudsman keeps a national list at fairwork.gov.au.

The rostering mechanics are the easy part: a public holiday is just a day your wage cost multiplies, so build it consciously. One venue's habit worth copying: roster the holiday skeleton first, price it, and only then decide whether the venue trades at all — some days genuinely don't cover their own 250%.