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The government have decreed that Monday 26th September 2022 will be a public holiday to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.  But what does that mean for you as the employer?

If your staff member normally works on a Monday, then this is an ‘otherwise working day’ for them and they will be entitled to be paid for that day off and paid at their relevant daily pay (RDP) – if they had come to work, what would they have got paid (including overtime, productivity or commissions etc)?   If its not possible to determine with the RDP, then you may use average daily pay to calculate payment for this day (ADP).   ADP is determined by looking at the gross earnings for the last 52 weeks and dividing it by the number of days worked or paid in leave.

If your team member works on that day, they they are entitled to be paid time and half for the hours worked that day, and are also entitled to alternative days leave to use in the future at an agreed time.

Payment for public holidays is such a massive topic for employers and payroll managers.   Other common questions we receive are things like can we make employees work on public holidays, what if they call in sick when working on a public holiday and what about those public holidays that fall in the middle of annual holidays?

These are questions that myself and my team get all the time which is why all of these topics are covered in depth in our upcoming Small Business Training Hub payroll training courses.     If you would like to find out more or register for one of these upcoming trainings, all the information is here.

What you as a business owner needs to take into account is what extra cost of an extra unplanned public holiday brings and the effect this may have on your cashflow. Its not actually the wages owing for the day that are the issue – the employee would have been paid anyway had they come to work – but the cost of the lost production, or the extra wages due if you remain open.   Do you know what this is for you?

If you need help working through your numbers, our Financial Fitness Training could be just what you need.