Review of the Banks and Bank Holidays Act

Published in The Adviser (September 2009)

The NSW Government is reviewing the Banks and Bank Holidays Act, which stipulates the dates (or substitute dates) for public holidays in NSW.

Specifically, the review will look at the issues around:

• additional and substitute days when celebrated dates fall on weekends
• the Queen's Birthday and Labour Day
• local public holidays and half-holidays
• the August bank holiday
• weekend trading for banks.

Our submission

We are concerned that in spite of announcing that the proposed changes to the law 'shouldn't increase or decrease the number of public holidays', the Review's Options Paper suggests significant changes.

The Minister has said:

The aim is to achieve uniformity in relation to when public holidays fall.

And

We want to provide certainty for workers and to avoid the confusion and disruption for businesses which has occurred under the present arrangements.

However, as we argued in our submission to the Office of Industrial Relations, the review contemplates a means by which every employee, regardless of differing working patterns and compensation, is to 'enjoy the benefit of every public holiday'. In particular, the paper proposes the idea of an 'ideal solution', which is one where 'every employee who is rostered to work during a week in which a public holiday falls is entitled to a paid day off during that week.'[1]

We are concerned that the review will be used to increase the number of public holidays, which will increase wage costs for employers who have no choice but to pay higher rates more days of the year.

Timeline

The outcome of the review will be published by October this year and we will have more information then on what changes are proposed.

[1] p 18 of the Options paper.