Q. We employ a casual employee who works at various locations as part of their conditions of employment. Last week, they were required to work in Bundaberg, where the day was also the Royal Queensland Show, which is a public holiday in Queensland. The employee claims they should have been paid the appropriate public holiday penalty rate under the award.
  
As casual employees are not entitled to a public holiday, and the day was a ‘show day’, and not a state-wide public holiday, is the casual employee entitled to the public holiday penalty rate? The employee is employed under the Amusement, Events and Recreation Award 2020.
  
A. In this case, it would appear the appropriate public holiday penalty rate prescribed by the applicable modern award would apply.
  
The nature of casual employment means an employee is paid only for the time actually worked, although this is usually subject to a minimum payment per engagement under the terms of the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement.
  
Consequently, the casual employment is terminated at the end of each engagement with the casual employee engaged on terms which apply at the time of commencement of each engagement as a casual employee. A casual employee engaged to work on a day that is a designated public holiday for the region in which the work is to be performed means the work would attract the public holiday penalty rate.
  
The location of the casual employee’s place of residence (in this case, Toowoomba) would not be relevant in determining the application of a public holiday, but is determined by the location where the casual employee performs the work. 
Fair Work Act – statutory public holidays 
The Fair Work Act (s115) recognises a day as a public holiday or part-day holiday which is declared by the relevant state or territory government, including a state/territory-wide holiday or a holiday declared for a specified region within a state or a territory.
  
The Act states that a casual is not entitled to payment for a public holiday when not rostered to work on that day. However, a casual who is rostered to work on a public holiday is entitled to the conditions prescribed for public holiday work under the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement. This means a casual employee is not entitled to payment for a public holiday when NOT rostered to work on that day. 
 

Show days – Queensland 

There are three categories of holiday gazetted under the Holidays Act 1983 [Qld] – public holidays, show days and special holidays. Public holidays and show holidays are declared public holidays under the Queensland legislation and therefore are also public holidays for the purposes of the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and enterprise agreements.
  
 Note: Show dates change annually to accommodate the best time for agriculture, weather, venue availability, and school term schedules, rather than a fixed calendar date. The second week of August is usually the declared show day holiday for Bundaberg and a public holiday for the postcode 4671.
  
‘Special holidays’ are known as ‘bank’ holidays and are not a public holiday in Queensland.   


Penalty rate 

In this case, the applicable award (clause 27.2(c)) provides that a casual employee who works on a public holiday will be paid at double the minimum full-time rate for such hours worked (calculated to the nearest quarter of an hour).
  

The bottom line

A casual employee who works on a public holiday is entitled to payment at the appropriate penalty rate prescribed by the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement. This applies to work performed in a region where the day has been declared a public holiday by the relevant state or territory government.