According to recent legislation introduced by Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations, Simon Corbell workers will be assured of their fair share of public holiday entitlements
Mr Corbell explained that the changes to the ACT’s Holidays Act 1958 provide that 25 December, 26 December and 1 January will all be official public holidays when they occur on a weekend, in addition to public holidays the following Monday or Tuesday, as appropriate.
“Until now in the ACT, if Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day fell on either a Saturday or a Sunday, these days were not the official public holiday, instead, the public holiday was either the following Monday, or the following Tuesday if 26 December falls on a Sunday,” Mr Corbell said.
Mr Corbell pointed out the changes ensure that workers who will miss out on spending time with family on these important holiday occasions will be properly compensated.
“The workers may not be entitled to the full benefit of any public holiday loadings that would be available if they were working a public holiday and those workers will not be able to exercise their right to reasonably refuse to work on a public holiday, that right being enshrined in the Commonwealth’s National Employment Standards.” Mr Corbell commented.