We recently had a question from a client in the hospitality industry where full time workers provided a medical certificate claiming that they were unfit for work on a public holiday where they were scheduled to work.

The employee was requesting to be paid sick leave for this day and we were asked the correct way to pay the employee for this period.  Should the employee be paid sick leave in addition to their public holiday rate?  Does the employee get an additional day off because they were sick on a public holiday?

Before providing an answer to our client, we reviewed Section 98 of the Fair Work Act 2009 which states “ If the period during which an employee takes paid personal/carer’s leave includes a day or part‑day that is a public holiday in the place where the employee is based for work purposes, the employee is taken not to be on paid personal/carer’s leave on that public holiday.”

So it appears based on this, that an employee is not able to claim sick / personal leave on a public holiday regardless if they are genuinely unable to work or not.  This appears to be put in place to prevent any double dipping be it through additional pay or even the employee taking an alternative day off because they were unable to enjoy the public holiday because they were ill.

A final thought on this matter before we wrap up this session.  Just because an employee cannot be placed on Personal Carer’s leave on a public holiday for payroll purposes, this doesnt mean they are exempt from following any leave policies that a business may have from providing adequate notice of their absence and collecting reasonable proof of their sickness or carer’s responsibility for example a medical certificate in accordance with section 107 of the Fair Work Act.