Public holidays falling on a weekend

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, an employee’s public holiday might be moved to the following Monday (or in some cases Tuesday).

In most cases it’s easy to work out whether or not an employee would have normally worked on the day in question (known as an otherwise working day) because the working pattern or roster is constant and the employer and employee can agree about whether the employee would otherwise have worked that day.

Some public holidays are attached to a specific day of the week, for example, King’s Birthday is always on a Monday.

Other public holidays are attached to calendar dates so the day they are celebrated on moves through the days of the week:

  • New Year’s Day (1 January)
  • the day after New Year’s Day (2 January)
  • Waitangi Day (6 February)
  • ANZAC Day (25 April)
  • Christmas Day (25 December), and
  • Boxing Day (26 December).

Public holiday moved to the Monday ('mondayisation')

Mondayisation happens when an employee’s public holiday which falls on a Saturday or Sunday is moved to the following Monday (or in some cases Tuesday). Mondayisation only happens if the employee doesn’t normally work on the calendar date of the holiday.

If an employee normally works on the day of the public holiday’s 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 don’t get two public holidays.

When an employee does not have a clear work pattern, or there is a lot of variation in work times, it may be hard to decide if they would have normally worked on a Saturday or Sunday a public holiday falls on.

Otherwise working days has more information and a calculator to help you work it out.

Mondayisation does not affect and is not affected by shop trading restrictions which happen on days such as Easter Sunday and Anzac Day morning. These always apply on the calendar date of certain holidays.

Restricted shop trading days provides useful information about trading restrictions.

Find out if a public holiday is mondayised

Answer each question below to find out if a public holiday is mondayised for an employee.


Question 1

Does the public holiday fall on a weekend?

Public holiday falls on Saturday

How to work out pay and holiday entitlements for a calendar date public holiday falling on a Saturday.

Public holiday falls on Sunday

How to work out pay and holiday entitlements for a calendar date public holiday falling on a Sunday.

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Page last revised: 12 September 2022

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