Public holiday pay in New Zealand: the rates, the day-in-lieu rule and how it is calculated

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-09-09 · Reviewed annually, or sooner if the rules it describes change.

New Zealand employees are entitled to up to 12 public holidays a year, and if one falls on a day you would otherwise work, you get a paid day off, or if you work it, at least time and a half plus an alternative holiday, under sections 46 to 56 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026). Whether you are paid depends on one question: is the day an "otherwise working day" for you.

The 2026 public holidays and when they're observed

New Zealand has 11 national public holidays plus Matariki, and several fall on different observed dates when the actual date lands on a weekend (Mondayisation). The table below is the full 2026 list.

(Employment New Zealand, Public holidays and anniversary dates, retrieved 9 September 2026.) Each region also has its own anniversary day, observed on a different date each year; see the same Employment New Zealand page for your local date.

How much you're paid: the four scenarios

What you are paid for a public holiday depends on whether it's an otherwise working day for you and whether you actually work it. Employment New Zealand (retrieved 9 September 2026) sets out the pay rules for each combination.

(Holidays Act 2003, ss46 to 56; Employment New Zealand, Public holiday pay, retrieved 9 September 2026.)

What is time and a half pay for public holidays?

If a public holiday is an otherwise working day and you work it, your employer must pay you at least one and a half times your relevant daily pay for the hours worked, under section 50 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026). This is the legal floor; some employment agreements set a higher penal rate.

Do I get a day in lieu if a public holiday falls on my day off?

No. A day in lieu, technically called an alternative holiday, only arises if you actually work on a public holiday that is an otherwise working day for you. If the holiday simply falls on a day you never work, you are not entitled to any pay or alternative holiday for it, under section 46 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026).

How is public holiday pay calculated if I don't normally work that day?

If the day is not an otherwise working day for you, you are not entitled to be paid for it at all, unless your employer chooses to pay you regardless, or you are on call and required to work, in which case different on-call rules under section 59 of the Holidays Act 2003 apply (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026).

What happens if a public holiday falls during my annual leave?

The day is treated as a public holiday, not as annual leave, and your annual holiday entitlement is extended by one day. See our annual leave entitlement guide for the full rule under section 40 of the Holidays Act 2003.

Are casual workers entitled to public holiday pay?

Yes, if the public holiday falls on a day that would otherwise be a working day for that casual employee, based on their actual pattern of work. A genuinely irregular casual worker with no real pattern on that day of the week is unlikely to have an otherwise working day and so is not entitled to pay for it (Employment New Zealand, Public holidays rights for employees, retrieved 9 September 2026).

How many public holidays are there in NZ each year?

There are 12 national and regional-equivalent public holidays a year: 11 fixed national holidays plus Matariki, though you can only claim a maximum of 12 public holidays in total, and a regional anniversary counts toward that cap, under section 44 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026). You also cannot claim 4 or more over the Christmas and New Year period beyond what the Act allows, and you can only observe one regional anniversary day per year.

What is Mondayisation?

Mondayisation is the rule that moves the observed date of certain public holidays to the following Monday, or in some cases Tuesday, when the actual date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, so employees who would not otherwise have worked a weekend still get the benefit of the holiday. It applies to New Year's Day, the day after New Year's Day, Waitangi Day, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, under sections 44A, 44B, 45 and 45A of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026).

What is relevant daily pay?

Relevant daily pay (RDP) is the amount you would have earned if you had worked on the day in question, including your usual pay, incentive payments, regular overtime, the cash value of board or lodgings, and regular allowances (excluding non-taxable reimbursements). It is used to calculate public holiday, alternative holiday, sick leave, bereavement leave and family violence leave pay, and is distinct from the weekly OWP/AWE calculation used for annual leave (Employment New Zealand, Calculating holiday and leave pay, retrieved 9 September 2026). Our annual leave pay calculator explainer covers the annual leave equivalent, OWP and AWE.

When can average daily pay be used instead of relevant daily pay?

Average daily pay (ADP), the daily average of your gross earnings over the past 52 weeks, can be used only when it is not possible or practicable to work out relevant daily pay, or when your daily pay varies within the pay period in question (Employment New Zealand, Public holiday pay, retrieved 9 September 2026).

What is an alternative holiday, and can I cash it up?

An alternative holiday is a whole paid day off owed to you when you work a public holiday that is an otherwise working day, regardless of how many hours you actually worked that day, under section 56 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026). It must generally be taken on another otherwise working day, and it can be cashed up if your employer agrees, once 12 months have passed since it was earned.

What if I'm on call during a public holiday?

If you are on call on a public holiday and it is an otherwise working day for you, you are entitled to an alternative holiday even if you are not actually called in to work, provided your on-call arrangement restricts your freedom to do what you would otherwise be doing, under section 59 of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026).

Can I transfer a public holiday to a different day?

Yes, by agreement. An employee and employer can agree to transfer the day on which a public holiday is observed for that employee to another day, under sections 44A and 44B of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026), for example when a business closes on a different day for religious or cultural reasons.

What happens to public holiday pay if I'm sick, bereaved or on parental leave that day?

If you would otherwise have worked a public holiday but are instead on sick leave, bereavement leave or family violence leave that day, you are treated as though you worked it for the purposes of the public holiday, under section 61A of the Holidays Act 2003 (New Zealand Legislation, retrieved 9 September 2026). Our bereavement leave guide and sick leave entitlement guide cover those entitlements in full.

Does Easter Sunday count as a public holiday?

No. Easter Sunday is not one of New Zealand's statutory public holidays; only Good Friday and Easter Monday are. Rules about trading on Easter Sunday are separate and covered by the Shop Trading Hours Act, not the Holidays Act (Employment New Zealand, Public holiday pay, retrieved 9 September 2026).

Does a public holiday affect my sick leave or bereavement leave balance?

No, they are entirely separate entitlements. A public holiday you are entitled to is paid under sections 46 to 56 of the Holidays Act 2003, while sick leave and bereavement leave are drawn from their own separate balances and only interact with a public holiday through section 61A, covered above.

Regional anniversary days count too

Every region has its own anniversary day, which counts toward the same 12-holiday cap as the national holidays. The table below lists the 2026 observed dates for the main centres.

(Employment New Zealand, Public holidays and anniversary dates, retrieved 9 September 2026. Dates can contain unintentional errors; check with your local council for the most reliable date.) If you work in one region but are usually based in another, you and your employer agree which anniversary applies, or you default to the anniversary of the province you usually work in.

Do public holidays change when Work and Income benefit payments arrive?

Yes, but that is a separate topic from employment public holiday pay. Work and Income pays main benefits early when a public holiday falls on the usual payment date; see our Work and Income benefits hub for how WINZ payment dates and any back pay work, which is unrelated to the employer obligations covered on this page.

What's changing

Public holiday pay is one of the areas the Employment Leave Act 2026 will change from 6 August 2028. A new "otherwise working day" test will apply to employees without agreed days of work: a day counts as an otherwise working day if 50% or more of the same day of the week in the preceding 13 weeks was worked, and alternative holidays will accrue in hours at a 1:1 ratio rather than as a whole day, (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Key changes to the employment leave system, retrieved 9 September 2026). See our employment leave law changes page for the full comparison.

Public holidays sit alongside the rest of New Zealand's minimum leave framework. Our annual leave entitlement guide covers what happens when a holiday falls during scheduled leave, how annual leave pay is calculated covers OWP and AWE for annual leave specifically, and long service leave and cashing out annual leave round out this cluster, indexed on the leave entitlements hub. If a public holiday dispute follows a resignation or redundancy, our notice periods in NZ and redundancy pay in NZ guides cover what else is owed in a final pay, and the first 30 days after redundancy covers the practical next steps.

If illness rather than a public holiday is the reason you are off work, our sick leave entitlement guide and how long you can be off work sick explain how relevant daily pay applies there too, and comparing income protection is worth doing once statutory leave and public holiday pay are not enough to cover an extended absence.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. Start a free comparison if you would like a licensed adviser to review your own cover.

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Public Holiday Pay NZ 2026: Rates and How It Works. www.quotehub.co.nz/guides/leave-entitlements/public-holiday-pay-nz. Updated 2026-09-09.

References

• Holidays Act 2003, section 44 (Days that are public holidays)
• Holidays Act 2003, section 46 (Entitlement to public holidays)
• Holidays Act 2003, section 50 (Time and a half for working a public holiday)
• Holidays Act 2003, section 56 (Alternative holiday)
• Holidays Act 2003, section 59 (Alternative holiday when on call)
• Holidays Act 2003, section 61A (Sickness, bereavement or family violence on a public holiday)
• Employment New Zealand: Public holiday pay
• Employment New Zealand: Public holidays rights for employees
• Employment New Zealand: Public holidays and anniversary dates
• Employment New Zealand: Calculating holiday and leave pay
• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment: Key changes to the employment leave system (PDF)

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