When pay run earning lines are generated that apply a Public Holiday Worked or Public Holiday Not Worked default pay category, you will see an info icon appear. When clicking on the info icon, a context panel will open.

The article will explain each component of the context panel along with the options available to update undetermined values and/or override platform defined rules. You should read the article in conjunction with the general overview article regarding automated public holiday entitlements.

Public holiday information

The first two fields will display the specific holiday applicable to the earnings line and the day of the week that public holiday falls on. If the platform generates the earnings line from a timesheet imported into the pay run, we will lock these two fields. We have done this intentional so as not to impact the accuracy of the data coming through.

In the instance where you have added the public holiday earnings line to the pay run, we will set the public holiday as undetermined. We do this because you have not provided the platform with accurate date-driven data. Please note that entering a date in the Notes field of the earnings line is not enough date-driven data. In this instance, the following will occur:

We wil trigger a pay-run warning stating that there is insufficient information resulting in undetermined data preventing an accurate calculation of public holiday entitlements.
The value in the Public holiday field will show as Undetermined, but the user can click on the dropdown and select the specific public holiday associated with the earnings line. Once you select the public holiday from the dropdown list, the Public Holiday Falls On field will automatically pre-fill. Click the Save button to make sure the details are locked in.

The public holidays listed in the dropdown, where the public holiday is initially undetermined, will only be those dated within the current pay run period, the prior pay period, and the next pay period. Additionally, only the public holidays for the province/region that match the regional anniversary day setting in the location assigned to the earnings line will appear. If the public holiday you are after does not appear in the list, you will need to manually do the following:

Make sure you entered the correct rate of pay. If it is not, you can override the pay rate by following these instructions; and
Enter a comment in the Notes field of the earnings line confirming this payment relates to x public holiday; and
If the employee has an entitlement to an alternative holiday leave day, you can accrue this in the employee's pay by clicking the Actions button, within the employee's pay run page. Next, click the Accrue leave button and select the Alternative Holiday Leav' leave category. Lastly, enter one day and leave a comment in the Notes field to confirm the leave has been accrued for working on x public holiday and then click the Save button..

Otherwise working day

The next field deals with determining whether the day the public holiday falls on would be an otherwise working day for the employee. The values displayed here will be one of the following:

No: Indicating the employee has not met minimum assessment criteria.
Yes: indicating the employee has met minimum assessment criteria.

How does the platform determine an otherwise working day?

Refer here for further information on how we have configured the assessment period. You can refer here to see what factors within a pay run, we used to determine whether the employee has previously worked on the day of the week that the public holidays falls on. Both of these components we attribute to how we determine the minimum assessment criteria.

When you click on the View employee work pattern link in the context panel, we will direct you to a table that includes details of all the factors used to determine an otherwise working day. We calculate the otherwise working day assessment period as follows:

The first day of the period will correlate with the first day of the employee's pay schedule pay period. For example, if the employee's pay period runs from Tuesday to Monday, then the first day will start on a Tuesday. If you attach an employee to a monthly or bi-monthly pay schedule, and so the pay period start day varies, the Work Week setting, as configured in the Business Details screen, will be the first day of the period.
The last day of the period will correlate with the last day of the employee's pay schedule pay period. For example, if the employee's pay period runs from Tuesday to Monday, then the last day of the period will end on a Monday. If you attach an employee to a monthly or bi-monthly pay schedule, and so the pay period end day varies). Then the Work Week setting, as configured in the Business Details screen, will be the last day of the period.
The number of weeks counted will be continuous weeks. Even if the employee has not worked/been paid at all in one week, we will still include that week in the assessment period.
The last week of the assessment period is the week before the week the public holiday falls on. For example, if the pay week is Monday to Sunday and the public holiday falls on Sunday 13th June, the assessment period will end on Sunday 6th of June. If the pay run frequency is more than weekly, i.e. fortnightly, half-monthly, or monthly, this means we will include the earnings from within the same pay run in the assessment period.

What is the impact on employee entitlements if it is not an otherwise working day?

If you do not assign the Public Holiday Not Worked pay category to the public holiday earnings, we will not pay the employee for the recorded hours. If you assign the Public Holiday Worked pay category to the public holiday earnings, we will pay the employee at their public holiday rate for the recorded hours but will not accrue a day of alternative holiday leave.

What is the impact on employee entitlements if it is an otherwise working day?

If you assing the Public Holiday Not Worked pay category to the public holiday earnings, we will pay the employee for the recorded hours at either their ADP/RDP rate of pay. We explain this in more detail in the Rate of Pay section.

If you assign the Public Holiday Worked pay category to the public holiday earnings, we will pay the employee at their public holiday rate for the recorded hours. It will also automatically accrue a day of alternative holiday leave.

What if I do not agree with the system's otherwise working day determination?

You can manually override what the platform has determined by clicking the Override checkbox. Once you do that, the field will become editable and will allow you to select either the Yes or No option regarding whether the day is an otherwise working day. Once you have made your selection, the platform will recalculate the entitlements owed to the employee for that public holiday. Click the Save button to save your selection.

Rate of pay

The last section details how we have calculated the rate of pay. The section will only appear if the platform has determined that payment is owing for the public holiday hours. How we calculate the rate depends on various scenarios, as explained below.

Scenario 1: Pay category = Public holiday not worked

In this instance, we will pay the employee either their average daily pay (ADP) or relevant daily pay (RDP), as per the selection made in the Leave Pay Rates section of the employee's Pay Rates screen.

Scenario 2: Pay category = Public holiday worked and public holiday rate has not been overridden at an employee level

In this instance, we will pay the employee at their ADP/RDP as per the selection made in the Leave Pay Rates section of the employee's Pay Rates screen. Multiplied by the penalty rate loading configured in the platform Public holiday worked pay category.

Scenario 3: Pay category = 'Public holiday worked' and public holiday rate has been overridden at an employee level

In this instance, we will pay the employee the higher of:

The fixed rate entered in their Pay Rates screen, or
Their ADP/RDP, as configured in the Leave Pay Rates section of the employee's Pay Rates screen. Multiplied by the penalty rate loading configured in the business Public Holiday Worked pay category.

Further information on how the public holiday rate can be overridden at the employee level can be found here.

Mondayised public holidays

Mondayisation happens when a public holiday, which falls on a Saturday or Sunday, so we move it to the following Monday, or in some cases Tuesday. It will only occur if the employee's otherwise working day does not fall on the calendar date, i.e. Saturday or Sunday of the public holiday.

Additionally, as the context panel advises, we wil pay, the employee the rate of pay that normally applies to them for working on that specific day. If an employee normally works on the day of the public holiday calendar date, then there is no Mondayisation for them and their public holiday benefits apply to the calendar date.

If an employee would normally work on both the calendar date of the public holiday and the possible Mondayisation date, their public holiday is on the calendar date. They do not get ‌public holiday payments for both days.

Take note however, that if the public holiday earnings have been manually entered in the pay run, as opposed to being generated via timesheets, the platform will pay both public holidays at the applicable holiday rate. So, in this instance, the user will need to manually make sure they are applying the correct pay category on the day that we should not deem a public holiday for the employee.

Override the public holiday rate of pay rate in the pay run

If, for whatever reason, the hourly rate automatically applied to the employee by the platform in the pay run does not match with what the employer wants to pay, the rate can be manually overridden. To do this, select the Override checkbox and, enter the hourly rate that we should pay and then click the Save button. To re-apply the platform calculated pay rate for the public holiday earnings, simply click the Override checkbox again, and click on the Save button.