07 NovNavigating annual leave and holiday pay for your staff over the 2024/2025 holiday period
During the Christmas and New Year holiday period, educators and teachers following the 10-week and 4-week leave models as outlined in the VECTEA 2020 are eligible for four weeks of end-of-year annual leave (pro-rata for part-time staff) with a 17.5% leave loading. The leave accrual is determined by the employee’s regular working hours.
Surplus annual leave days
As detailed in clause 29.2 of the VECTEA, the four weeks of annual leave do not overlap with public holidays during the Christmas and New Year season.
Consequently, when calculating the span after the last day of Term 4, 2024 (20 December 2024) and the first day of Term 1, 2025 (28 January 2025), a full-time employee will require approximately 22 days of annual leave (excluding four public holidays). This means that there are two surplus annual leave days.
Due to annual shifts in term dates regulated by the Department of Education (DE), an employee may receive additional annual leave days one year but not have the same advantage the next year.
While not explicitly mentioned in the VECTEA, these term date changes should not adversely impact employees. For further information, refer to the School term dates and holidays in Victoria: School term dates and holidays in Victoria | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au).
Any extra leave days (beyond the 20 days of annual leave for full-time employees) should be granted to the employee and processed as paid annual leave (without loss of pay).
Payment for public holidays during this period
As per Section 89 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), an employee cannot be on annual leave during a public holiday.
Under the VECTEA 2020 (clause 29.5), an employee is entitled to receive payment at their standard rate for their ordinary work hours on the public holiday or part thereof. If the employee does not have regular work hours on the public holiday, they are not entitled to payment under this clause.
For instance, employees, such as casual workers not scheduled for the public holiday or part-time employees whose hours do not include the day of the week when the public holiday falls, are not eligible for payment.
Please note the version of this article published on 7 November 2024 has been revised.
