FACT SHEET: TRADING HOURS Christmas and New Year 2014-2015 AS AT November 2014 2014-2015 CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR TRADING HOURS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS This fact sheet provides information about trading hours and public holidays for retail stores during the Christmas and New Year period for 2014-2015. What are the Gazetted Public Holidays? The following table sets out the days that have been declared and gazetted as public holidays throughout Australia. State or Thursday Friday Thursday Territory 25 December 2014 26 December 2014 1 January 2015 VIC Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year ’s Day Public Holiday Holiday NSW Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday ACT Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday QLD Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday WA Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday TAS Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday NT Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public Holiday New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday State Wednesday Thursday Friday Wednesday Thursday 24 December 25 December 26 December 31 December 1 January 2015 2014 2014 2014 2014 SA Christmas Eve Christmas Day Proclamation New Year ’s Eve New Year ’s Day (part day) Public Holiday Day Public (part day) Public Holiday Holiday (7pm-midnight) (7pm-midnight) Public Holiday Public Holiday 1 | P a g e What Public Holiday Entitlements apply to my employees? Under the General Retail Industry Award 2010 and the Fast Food Industry Award 2010 (‘the Awards’) any work performed on any of the days listed as public holidays above (whether it is the actual, substituted, additional day or part-day) are paid at the appropriate public holiday penalty rate. Please refer to the NRA produced wage summaries for the current rates. The General Retail Industry Award 2010 also provides that employees may receive in lieu of the appropriate public holiday penalty either: • An equivalent day or equivalent time off without loss of pay; or • An additional day or equivalent time as annual leave. There is not a similar provision under the Fast Food Industry Award 2010 . Under the National Employment Standards (‘the NES’), employees are entitled to be absent on a public holiday unless the employer has requested the employee to work and the request is reasonable. An employee can only refuse a reasonable request to work if the employee’s refusal is reasonable. Factors that will be considered in determining whether a request or refusal is reasonable are: • The nature of the workplace (including its operational requirements) and the nature of the work performed by the employee; • The employee’s personal circumstances, including family responsibilities; • Whether the employee could reasonably expect to be requested to work on the public holiday; • Penalty rates payable; • The type of employment – full time, part time or casual; • Amount of notice given of the request to work; • The amount of notice given by an employee in advance in regard to refusing a request to work. Under the NES, if an employee is absent on a day or part-day that is a public holiday, the employer must pay the employee at the employee’s base rate of pay for their ordinary hours of work on that day or part day. This provision does not apply to casual employees or part time employees who are not ordinarily rostered to work. For example, a full time employee may ordinarily work 8 hours on a particular public holiday but because of the holiday have only been rostered to work 4 hours. In this situation, the employee would be paid at public holiday rates for 4 hours and receive payment for the other 4 hours they would have ordinarily worked at ordinary rates of pay. Please note that if a public holiday falls on an employee’s non-working day, the employee is not entitled to any public holiday benefits under the Awards or the NES. This is a change to the public holiday entitlements under many of the old NAPSAs and pre-reform awards that often provided a day off in lieu or an extra day’s wages under these circumstances. For those employees who employ their employees under a pre-reform certified agreement, AWA, ITEA, workplace agreement or enterprise agreement you will need to refer to the terms of these instruments to determine how these employees need to be paid. 2 | P a g e AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY – TRADING HOURS Trading hours are deregulated in the ACT and therefore there are no trading restrictions on these days. ACT Thursday Friday Thursday 25 December 2014 26 December 2014 1 January 2015 Public Holidays Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday Holiday Trading hours No restrictions but stores No Restrictions No Restrictions would generally close. NORTHERN TERRITORY – TRADING HOURS Trading hours, in Northern Territory, are deregulated however, individual restrictions may apply to certain shopping centres as set by Centre Management. The trading hours for the sale of liquor products, however, are regulated. NT Thursday Friday Thursday 25 December 2014 26 December 2014 1 January 2015 Public Holidays Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday Holiday Trading hours No Restrictions No Restrictions No Restrictions TASMANIA – TRADING HOURS Trading hours, in Tasmania, are predominantly deregulated and during this period 25 December 2014 is the only closed day for major retailers or franchise groups. TAS Thursday Friday Thursday 25 December 2014 26 December 2014 1 January 2015 Public Holidays Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday Holiday Trading hours Closed for major retailers No Restrictions No Restrictions or franchise groups employing more than 250 employees. 3 | P a g e QUEENSLAND – TRADING HOURS Trading hours’ restrictions in Queensland vary depending on the type of shop and the location of the shop. Thursday Friday Thursday QLD 25 December 2014 26 December 2014 1 January 2015 Public Holidays Christmas Day Public Boxing Day Public New Year’s Day Public Holiday Holiday Holiday Trading hours No Restrictions No Restrictions No Restrictions Exempt Shops Trading hours CLOSED (except No Restrictions No Restrictions Independent Shops independent grocery shops) Trading hours CLOSED Public holiday trad ing Public holiday trad ing Non-exempt Shops hours in most areas of hours in most areas of the the State (see below) State (see below) Exempt Shops Exempt shops are specified in the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act 1990 (QLD) (‘Act’). A list of exempt shops is set out below: • Antique shop • Marine shop • Aquarium and aquarium accessories shop • Milk bar • Art gallery • Newsagent’s shop • Arts and craft shop • Nursery (plant) shop for selling garden plants • Bait and tackle shop and shrubs, seeds, garden and landscaping • Beautician’s or barber shop supplies or equipment and associated products • Bookseller’s shop • Pastry shop • Bread shop • Pet shop • Cake shop • Photographic shop • Camping equipment shop • Premises in relation to which a pawnbrokers • Chemist shop licence under the Pawnbrokers Act 1984 is in • Confectionery shop force • Cooked provisions shop where the provisions • Railway bookstall are cooked or heated on premises immediately • Refreshment shop before sale • Restaurant, café • Delicatessen • Service station • Fish shop • Shop for selling motor vehicle spare parts or • Flower shop motorcycle spare parts or both • Fruit shop, vegetable shop, fruit and vegetable • Shop of a class declared by regulation to be a shop class of exempt shop • Funeral Directors premises • Soap shop • Hairdressers • Souvenir shop • Ice cream parlour • Sporting goods shop • Licensed premises under the Liquor Act 1992 or • Temperance beverages shop and Tobacconist’s the Wine Industry Act 1994 shop 4 | P a g e Exempt shops have no prescribed opening or closing times, meaning such stores can trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week each year. Independent Retail Shop FACT SHEET: TRADING HOURS Independent retail shops are defined by reference to the number of employees employed. The Act defines this Christmas and New Year 2014-2015 AS AT November 2014 type of shop as follows: Any shop owned by an individual, partnership, or proprietary company which: • has no more than 20 people (including the proprietor) on the shop floor at any one time (this does not include customers); AND • if there is more than one shop in Queensland, no more than 60 people are engaged by the owner of the business in that shop and any other shop or shops (this does not include customers). Independent Retail Shops have very few prescribed opening and closing times. Those independent retail shops that predominately sell food and/or grocery items may trade without restrictions. Independent retail shops that do not sell food and/or groceries must be closed on the following days: o Christmas Day o Good Friday o Anzac Day before 1pm. On all other days of the year these shops may trade without restriction. Non-Exempt Shops These shops are defined as a shop other than: • An Exempt Shop; • An Independent Retail Shop; • An office; or • A stall Please refer to the tables on the following pages of this Fact Sheet for the allowable trading hours for non-exempt shops. Please note the trading hours for non-exempt hardware stores have not been included in the following tables. Please contact the NRA for this information. 5 | P a g e Allowable Trading Hours for