Four public holidays in eight days: what a casual earns working Sydney's Christmas to New Year stretch in 2026

Five shifts between Christmas Day and New Year's Day pay a casual Level 2 bartender $2,113.45 for 34 hours behind the bar. Work the same 34 hours as weekday day shifts in February and you take home $1,150.90. The $962.55 gap comes down to one quirk of the 2026 calendar: NSW has four public holidays in eight days, and New Year's Eve isn't one of them.

Christmas falls on a Friday, Boxing Day on a Saturday, so NSW adds an extra public holiday on Monday 28 December. Then Friday 1 January 2027 makes four. If you're deciding which shifts to put your hand up for, the day matters far more than the venue or the hours.

Short version: Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Monday 28 December 2026 and Friday 1 January 2027 are all public holidays in NSW. A casual under the Hospitality Award (MA000009) gets 250% of the base rate on each, which is $67.70 an hour at Level 2 from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. New Year's Eve is an ordinary Thursday until midnight. General information only, not legal or financial advice.

What every day from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day pays

Rates below are for a casual Level 2 food and beverage attendant grade 2, which is where most bar staff sit (check your level in our guide to MA000009 award levels). The 25% casual loading is already built in, so nothing gets added on top.

Notice Boxing Day. It falls on a Saturday, which would normally pay $40.62, but it's still a public holiday in NSW and the award says you get the highest penalty that applies, not the Saturday rate. The Monday after it is an extra public holiday on top, not a replacement.

Boxing Day on a Saturday doesn't move to Monday in NSW. You get both, and both pay $67.70 an hour.

One bartender, five shifts, priced line by line

Here's a realistic run for a casual Level 2 at a Sydney pub: Christmas lunch, a Boxing Day afternoon into the evening, the Monday, a New Year's Eve close that runs past midnight, and a New Year's Day arvo shift.

That's $62.16 an hour across the stretch, before tax. The most interesting row is New Year's Eve. The six hours before midnight, the ones everyone thinks of as the big night, pay $217.85. The two hours after the fireworks pay $135.40, because from 12:00am you're working on a public holiday.

A few rules that shape the maths:

• The midnight split. Penalties attach to when the hours are worked, so a NYE close should show two lines on your payslip, not one flat rate.
• Two hours minimum. A casual who works a public holiday gets at least 2 hours' pay, and hours from a continuous shift that started the day before count towards it.
• No double-dipping. The evening loading of $2.95 an hour applies Monday to Friday only, and penalties aren't cumulative, so the after-midnight NYE hours get $67.70 and nothing on top.
• Restaurant or pub, same money on the holidays. The Restaurant Industry Award (MA000119) also pays a casual Level 2 $67.70 on a public holiday, so all four days pay the same either way.

Saying yes, saying no, and the break nobody enforces for you

A venue can ask you to work a public holiday if the request is reasonable, and you can refuse if you have reasonable grounds or the request isn't reasonable. As a casual you're not paid for a public holiday you don't work, so every holiday you skip is $67.70 an hour you don't earn. Our piece on what refusing a shift actually costs a casual walks through the trade-off.

One catch worth knowing. The award's 10 hour break between shifts sits in a rostering clause written for full-time and part-time staff. So if a manager asks you to finish at 2am on New Year's Day and come back at 10am, there's no clause in MA000009 stopping it. You're the one who has to protect your sleep, which is why the example above starts at 3pm.

Check your payslip against these four things

1. Boxing Day at $67.70, not $40.62. On an 8 hour shift, getting paid as an ordinary Saturday shorts you $216.64. It's the easiest mistake to make this year.
2. Monday 28 December paid as a public holiday. Some pay systems only know about the 25th and 26th. The extra day is on the official NSW and Fair Work lists.
3. NYE split at midnight. Every hour after 12:00am on 1 January should be at the public holiday rate.
4. The right level. If you're making cocktails, running a section or supervising, you might be above Level 2. Check the rate against the Fair Work Pay Calculator.

If something's off, raise it with the venue first, in writing. Our guide to checking your hospitality payslip covers what each line should say and where to go if it doesn't get fixed.

Picking up the shifts that pay

Knowing the 26th pays $67.70 an hour is only useful if somebody offers you that shift. Most casuals only see one venue's roster, so the holiday shifts go to whoever the manager texted first.

Shiftly is free workforce management for venues with an on-demand staffing network built in, so the roster fills itself. If you're on the network, nearby venues offer you open shifts, you see the platform rate before you accept, and you get paid fast once the shift's approved. The award maths above is for casual employees on a venue's own roster. Shifts on the network are paid at the rate shown on the shift. Worth setting up before the Christmas rosters go out in early December. Find shifts on Shiftly.

Frequently asked questions

Is New Year's Eve a public holiday in NSW?

No. Thursday 31 December 2026 is an ordinary weekday in NSW, so a casual Level 2 under the Hospitality Award earns $33.85 an hour until 7pm and $36.80 from 7pm to midnight. South Australia and the Northern Territory treat 7pm to midnight on New Year's Eve as a part-day public holiday, but NSW doesn't. The public holiday rate kicks in at midnight, when New Year's Day starts.

What's the Boxing Day pay rate in NSW for 2026?

Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December 2026 and it's still a public holiday in NSW, so a casual under the Hospitality Award gets 250% of base: $67.70 an hour at Level 2. Monday 28 December is an additional public holiday at the same rate. You aren't paid the Saturday rate, because the award pays the highest penalty that applies.

What's the Christmas Day pay rate for a casual in hospitality?

250% of your base rate under both the Hospitality Award and the Restaurant Industry Award. At Level 1 that's $66.10 an hour, at Level 2 $67.70 and at Level 3 $69.93, from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The casual loading is already included, so it isn't added again.

Do casuals get paid for public holidays they don't work?

No. Under the National Employment Standards, only full-time and part-time employees who'd normally work that day are paid for a public holiday off. A casual is paid only for the hours they work, which is why picking up holiday shifts matters so much over this stretch.