ASU members have a right to request swap public holidays for more flexible and inclusive workplaces.
Many enterprise agreements and awards include a right for employees to ask to work on a public holiday and take another day as a substitute public holiday instead. The substitute public holiday would be a day agreed between you and your employer.
You will be paid your normal rate of pay when you work on the original public holiday. If you’re asked to work on your substitute public holiday, you’ll earn public holiday rates.
When could I swap public holidays?
• If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could ask to work on the Christmas Day public holiday and instead take time off to celebrate something important to your own cultural or religious background, such as Diwali. • If you would prefer to work on Melbourne Cup Day or ‘Australia Day’, which is a day of mourning for many Indigenous Australians, take another day off instead. • If you need another day off for personal flexibility.
Recognising diverse cultural and social beliefs shapes more flexible and inclusive workplaces and is exercising a workplace right.
The ASU is proud to have been at the forefront of pushing for modern and flexible entitlements that improve the lives of workers, such as progressive parental leave policies, a four-day work-week, the right to disconnect, and the right to substitute public holidays.
