Case study: Public holiday entitlement
Introduction
Daniel has been working part-time since June. He works from Tuesday to Saturday each week from 6pm to 9pm. The other staff who are all full-time had a day off when the shop was closed for the public holiday in August. Daniel found out that they were paid for this public holiday and they told him he should also be paid for that day. He asked his employer about this but the employer told him since he never worked on a Monday, he had no right be paid for this public holiday. Who is correct?
Answer
Daniel's employer is wrong. Before the August public holiday, Daniel had worked in the shop for 15 hours a week for 7 weeks which came to a total of 105 hours. This meant he was entitled to public holiday leave under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. As he was not due to work on the day of the public holiday, he is entitled to one-fifth of his normal weekly pay. Daniel should therefore receive an extra 3 hours' pay.