Public holiday rules Australia change

Bosses must ask workers if they want to work on public holidays before rostering them on.

This will now apply to all workplaces and override whatever is written in existing contracts or agreements after a landmark court case.

The court case found that a business within the mining giant BHP had fallen foul of the Fair Work Act by forcing miners to work on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

 The judges pointed to the power imbalance between bosses and workers, saying bosses can only reasonably request someone to work, not command them to.

‘The intended mischief the provision confronts is the inherent power imbalance that exists between employers and employees’. 

‘By virtue of this imbalance, employees will often feel compelled, and not understand, that they have the capacity to refuse a request that is unreasonable or where their own refusal is reasonable,’ they said. 

‘The requirement that there be a “request” rather than a unilateral command prompts the capacity for discussion, negotiation and a refusal.’