Forced annual leave over Christmas: what a hospitality venue can direct under MA000009, what closing costs against trading lean, and what your casuals get

Closing a bar from Christmas Eve to the Monday after Boxing Day costs about $675 in wages for a full-timer, and most of that you owe whether the doors are open or not. Trading the same stretch on a skeleton crew, closed on Christmas Day only, costs about $3,500. The gap is almost entirely two public holidays, and whether you get to close on your own terms depends on a piece of paper that has to be with your staff by Thursday 26 November 2026.

That's because clause 30.4 of the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009) only lets you direct full-time and part-time staff onto annual leave for a temporary shutdown after 28 days' written notice. Your permanents are typing 'can my employer make me take annual leave over Christmas' into Google about now, and many of the page-one answers predate May 2023, when the Commission replaced the old close-down clauses. Here's the current rule, from both sides of the bar.

Short version: you can direct accrued annual leave for a shutdown of all or part of the venue with 28 days' written notice and a written, reasonable direction. You can't direct unpaid leave, you can't direct leave because trade is quiet, and the public holidays inside the closure are paid at base rate without touching anyone's balance. Casuals have no annual leave, so they're simply not rostered. General information, not legal advice: check the clause and any enterprise agreement.

What you can direct, and what you can't

Three routes put a permanent employee on leave they didn't ask for. Everything else needs their agreement, in writing.

The last row is where venues trip. If someone hired in October has two days banked and you're closing for eight, you can direct the two, and the other six are theirs to choose: leave in advance under a signed clause 30.9 agreement, leave without pay in writing, or neither, in which case they're paid. A closure you chose isn't a stand down, which Fair Work reserves for things outside your control, like a breakdown or a natural disaster.

The two dates: 26 November and 1 December

Count 28 days back from the first closed day. A Christmas Eve close needs the notice with staff by Thursday 26 November; a kitchen or venue that trades the holidays and shuts from Tuesday 29 December has until Tuesday 1 December. The direction is a separate written step, so hand it over with the notice, and don't cut it to the day: send it in the week of 16 November and keep proof it arrived.

Our earlier piece on the shutdown notice itself covers what it has to say and links Fair Work's template, so this one stays on the decision: whether closing beats trading lean.

Public holidays and the 17.5% loading change the maths

NSW has public holidays on Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Monday 28 December 2026, then Friday 1 January 2027. Under the National Employment Standards a full-time or part-time employee who'd normally work one of those days is paid their base rate for the ordinary hours, the day isn't deducted from their leave even if they're mid-leave, and you can't change the roster to avoid the payment. Casuals get nothing for a holiday they don't work. Other states differ: Tasmania has no Saturday Boxing Day holiday.

The days that are leave cost more than base. Clause 30.3 adds a flat 17.5% loading to annual leave pay, which is the base rate for the ordinary hours of leave, with no penalty rates or evening loading mixed in. Some awards pay the higher of 17.5% or a shift loading; this one pays 17.5% full stop. So a Level 3 full-timer on $27.97 costs $249.77 for a 7.6-hour day of directed leave and $212.57 for a public holiday off, and the public holiday leaves their balance alone.

Closing versus trading lean, costed over five days

Take a Surry Hills bar on MA000009 with one full-time Level 3 on $27.97 an hour, rostered Tuesday to Saturday for 7.6 hours a day, and a bench of Level 2 casuals on $33.85 base. The window is Thursday 24 to Monday 28 December. Trading lean means two casuals on six-hour day shifts each open day, the full-timer working their rostered days, and everybody closed on Christmas Day.

Opening Christmas Eve and the Sunday adds $937.68 to the wage bill, which a bar running labour at about 30% of takings covers on roughly $3,100 across the two days. Opening Boxing Day and the Monday adds another $1,890.50, so those two public holidays need about $6,300 between them, call it $3,150 a day, before the lean roster pays for itself. If Boxing Day won't do that number, close it and reopen for the run into New Year's Eve.

Wages only, before super, workers compensation and payroll tax, and on day shifts: the evening loading adds $2.95 an hour after 7pm Monday to Friday. Two levers for a lean day. A full-timer or part-timer who works a public holiday is paid a minimum of 4 hours and a casual 2, so a short Boxing Day window is cheaper on casuals. And clause 29.4(d) lets a permanent agree in writing to 125% plus equivalent time off instead of 225%, which defers the cost rather than removing it.

What your casuals get

Nothing from the clause, and that's the point. Clause 30.1 says annual leave doesn't apply to casuals, so there's no leave to direct, no loading to pay and no public holiday pay for days they don't work. What they do get:

• Their 25% loading on every hour they do work, and $67.70 an hour at Level 2 on each of the four NSW public holidays, with a 2-hour minimum each time they're called in on one.
• No roster-notice protection. The 7 days' notice of a roster change in clause 15 is written for full-time and part-time staff, so a fortnight with no shifts isn't a breach. Tell them the dates and the reopening date anyway: a casual can earn over $2,100 across the stretch at whichever venue stays open, and the ones you leave guessing are the ones you lose to it.
• A public holiday shift is a request, not a roster entry. Fair Work says the request has to be reasonable and they can refuse on reasonable grounds, and so can your permanents. Ask in writing and keep the replies.

Where Shiftly fits

The shutdown decision gets made off leave balances you can't see in a spreadsheet, and the thin days either side of it get covered by whoever answers the group chat. Shiftly is free workforce management for Australian venues: rostering, leave requests and approvals with balances that accrue automatically, so you can see who has the hours before you write a direction, and award-aware timesheets that help you check what a Boxing Day shift should cost before you approve it. It's a calculation tool, not a payroll provider, and the business stays responsible for verifying the figures.

Behind it is the roster that fills itself. Shiftly On-Demand is coming soon, starting in Sydney: you'll post the shifts your own crew can't cover, and local hospitality workers will pick them up, engaged by your venue as independent contractors, with Shiftly facilitating the match. For the venue trading lean when a casual drops Boxing Day, that's the gap it's built for. Get started with Shiftly.

Frequently asked questions

Can my employer make me take annual leave over Christmas?

If you're full-time or part-time under the Hospitality Award, yes, but only for a temporary shutdown of all or part of the business, with 28 days' written notice (or less if a majority of the affected staff agreed), a written and reasonable direction, and only for leave you've already accrued. They can't direct unpaid leave, and they can't direct leave because it's quiet while the venue stays open. On an enterprise agreement, its shutdown terms apply instead.

What happens if an employee doesn't have enough annual leave for the shutdown?

The direction can only cover what they've accrued. For the rest of the closure they can agree in writing to annual leave in advance (a signed clause 30.9 agreement) or to leave without pay, and if they agree to neither, they're paid their ordinary hours for the days they'd normally have worked. Public holidays inside the closure are paid at base rate regardless and don't come off anyone's balance.

Is annual leave loading paid on a Christmas shutdown?

Yes. Clause 30.3 of the Hospitality Award pays a 17.5% loading on annual leave pay, which is the base rate for the ordinary hours of leave taken, and directed leave is no different from requested leave. It doesn't apply to the public holidays inside the closure, because those days aren't annual leave: they're paid at the plain base rate.

Do casuals get paid during a Christmas shutdown?

No. Casuals have no annual leave under the Hospitality Award and aren't paid for public holidays they don't work, so a closure means no shifts and no pay, and the clause 15 roster-notice rules cover full-time and part-time staff only. If the venue does open, a casual Level 2 earns $67.70 an hour on each NSW public holiday, with a 2-hour minimum.