2009/10 Christmas and New Year holidays

Christmas and New Year public holidays are provided for under the Holidays Act 2003. The holidays are Christmas Day (25 December), Boxing Day (26 December), New Year's Day and the day after (1 and 2 January). Employees are entitled to a paid public holiday if the holiday falls on a day they would normally work.

How Christmas and New Year holidays are observed

Employees can be entitled to four public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period, depending on their work pattern. This year Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Friday, and Boxing Day and the day after New Years Day fall on a Saturday.

Employees will take Christmas Day and New Year’s Day on the days they fall. However, because Boxing Day and the day after New Years Day fall on a Saturday, the Holidays Act provides special rules about what day is observed as the public holiday.  

Examples of how the 2009/10 holiday entitlements work for some common working arrangements are outlined below:

• Employees who normally work Monday to Friday PDF [54 KB]; HTML
• Employees who normally work Monday to Saturday and are required to work PDF [48 KB]; HTML
• Employees who normally work Tuesday to Friday PDF [54 KB]; HTML

Further information

Use our Holidays Online Tool to work out employee entitlements for public holidays.

More detailed information is available on:

• Public holidays – general entitlements
• Alternative holidays for employees who work on public holidays
• Entitlement for employees working shifts or on call
• Entitlements for employees working shifts that cross midnight
• Regular annual closedowns
• Payment for public holiday
• Calculating payment for public holidays - “relevant daily pay”

View all our FAQs on Public Holidays

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This page was last updated on: 01-Dec-2009 and is current.