How is this Possible

While the 26th January is currently the date of Australia Day, the National Employment Standards provides provision to allow employees and employers to substitute any public holiday for another day.

While not every industry implements this option in their awards and agreements, there are many that do and it's easy to look into.

This means that together many employees and employers can agree to celebrate Australia on a day that is more appropriate to more members of our community.

It Need Not Affect Pay

If the paperwork allows for it, and you agree to substitute the Australia Day holiday to a different date, the chosen date becomes the public holiday and the 26th becomes a normal working day. This is likely to be considered substitution and need not create difficulties with pay.

Award/Agreement

If you are employed under an award or agreement, you will first need to confirm that your award or agreement does allow for the substitution of public holidays.

Many allow for this (if not most), and you can very easily search yours on the Fair Work Commission website as described on the Check Your Paperwork page.

You can also find out more about both here on the Fair Work site.

If you're not employed under a workplace award or agreement, you and your employer are free to discuss a change of date in accordance with any direct contract between you.

I’m a Casual Employee

While casual employees may also consider working on the 26th. You're casual contract will make it more difficult to do as it will likely have pay ramifications.

You can Register anyway, however, and there Other Ways to show your support.

I Work on the 26th Already

As an employee working on a public holiday, you are likely entitled to public holiday pay. Attempting to have this pay structure registered on another day as a symbol of your support creates complication for you and your employer with no real difference in result.

But you can still Register your support and showcase your support in Other Ways .

Checking Your Paperwork

If you are working under an award or agreement, it's very easy to check if it provides for public holiday substitution.

The steps below show how easy it is to find your award. Scroll further down for agreements.

While your employer should check this information as well, it's not difficult to get an idea before approaching them.

Checking your Award

You can search an award here

Follow the easy steps on the website to find the award you’re under.
Click See award Information on for your award to get the details.

In the section describing who your award covers, click expand and double check that it is the award for you.

Within that same section, at the bottom you will find a link to the actual award. Click that to check what the award says about public holidays.

Once in the award, one way to do a cursory check is to  press Cmd + F to search (often called find in page on mobile) and search through mentions of the word "substitute". Searching the term "public holiday" may also help.

Note that each award is different so you need to check what your specific award says.

Keep searching until you find the relevant part for you as an employee. Not all will be relevant as they may be referring to the business as a whole.

Checking Your Agreement

You can search an agreement here

Enter your company’s name in the search box and hit search.

Then scroll down to see the list of agreements.

Open your agreement by clicking on the icon.

Look in the contents of the document to find the section on Public Holidays.

Once scrolled to, you’ll find a number of items about public holidays. One of them may describe the ability substitute a public holiday - either on a company wide level or an individual employee level.

If it says the right things, you can feel more confident about approaching your employer, however, even if you can't find it, a link to this Employer Introduction page will help your employer confirm whether this is possible for you.

Above All, Respect

Your employer may not feel that changing the date of Australia Day is the appropriate response to the issues surrounding it, so it’s important that you are clear that you, personally, would like to support a date change.

When Should I Ask?

The earlier the better.

While an employer may be willing to accommodate a public holiday substitution no matter when you request, often it may not be possible unless requested more than a month in advance.

Another benefit to organising this early is that if given enough time, an employer may consider actively making the option available to other employees too. This would require letting their staff know during December or earlier.

“Andrea, I’m not sure what your feelings are around the date of Australia Day, but I’d really like to support a change of date by moving the day that I celebrate. Do you mind if I email you some information about employees substituting public holidays in the workplace?”

“I understand, I’d personally still like to support my own beliefs though. I’ll send you the email anyway and only ask that you have a look and consider it.”

Make it Easy with an Email

Once you’re ready to give them more information, you want to make it as easy as possible. Apart from providing an introduction to the idea, you should also link to this Employer Information page to give them further information to help.

Here’s an Example Email

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for considering my request to alter my public holiday from the upcoming 26th of Jan. Please be assured that I would very much like to celebrate Australia like my colleagues, however I don’t believe that the 26th is a date that can be sensitively celebrated. Thankfully, my (award / workplace agreement) allows for the easy swapping of public holidays provided it can be accommodated by both me and (workplace name).

Straightforward information around swapping Australia Day in the workplace can be found at www.changeitourselves.com.au/an-employee-changing-the-date 
I look forward to discussing this with you.

Regards,
Darren

This email's a little dry, isn't it! 

Be sure to write one that's appropriate to your situation.

No One is Obliged

Remember that employees can’t force their employers to let them work on the 26th January, and an employer can’t force their employees to work on a public holiday.

Requests must be reasonable and can be refused. Employers and employees will need to have a conversation and come to an agreement to #changethedate.

You can find more info about entitlements here.

How do I Work on the 26th?

While many workplaces or roles can be productive on any day, for some workplaces it takes some consideration.

Preparing Your Business

While employees at your business may choose to work on the 26th, businesses you commonly rely on will likely be on holiday that day. It’s important to consider what work to allocate to the 26th to enable workers to be fairly self-reliant.

Preparing Other Businesses

Likewise, the alternative date that an employee takes off to celebrate Australia may be a day that other colleagues would like to liaise with them. As with any absence from work, sometimes it's useful to inform people prior to the absence.

If you are notifying another business or employee, linking to this page in your email will help provide a compassionate explanation of the absence.

Let Clients Know

If you have clients, encouraging some of them to schedule upcoming appointments on the 26th January will go a long way to helping your business operate as normal on that day.

Posters

To make this process easier, the Posters page has a number of great designs that you can download and print yourself.

Some of them help you show general support while some are specifically designed to help inform customers and clients.

But My Work’s Closed on the 26th

If you're workplace is physically inaccessible, your employer may be able to afford you the flexibility of performing tasks offsite. If not, you may find you're unable to support #changethedate in this way. 

Be sure to register your support regardless, however, and have a look through the Other Ways to Support page to show your support in other fun and easy ways.

Which Dates are Appropriate?

A permanent new date for Australia should be more inclusive of all groups within the community, however, which date is a job for the Government and those communities, not this website.

Temporary Dates to Use

Below are some dates you might use to show your support of moving away from the 26th.

Should All Employees Swap to the Same Day?

Not necessarily. While a workplace might decide as a whole to swap a public holiday, if a large number of employees do so individually it might be unrealistic to expect the business to allow them all off on the same business day.

Workplaces Need to Stay Productive

As such, employers may need to ask that different employees swap celebrations onto different days.

We haven't listed all days that might be used as a temporary celebration, though, so if you need a different one, find one that is meaningful to you and convenient to you both.

Remember, it's only a temporary date until this issue is properly addressed.

Share Change It Ourselves

It would be great to have the site promoted or shared by you - however you share your news (facebook, email, etc.)

Promote your involvement, ie...

Last year we changed our Australia Day public holiday. Recently we told our story to changeitourselves.com.au to help others do the same...

You could share the YouTube video, the front page of the site, or any other page.

Share early so others have time to join in too.

Hang a poster and share a pic of it to Instagram

Posters help others start noticing - which helps build momentum. Put one up today!

Once you do, share a photo of the poster on your wall or window to instagram and tag #changethedate @change.it.ourselves  - This will go a long way to showing others they're not alone in their support.

Let's Highlight Your Business

Supporting #changethedate or changing the date in your workplace is great, but the rest of the country needs to know to help bring about real change.

If you're changing the date, have in the past, or just really want to, we would like to share your story on the Change It Ourselves Facebook and Instagram feeds and put your logo on the website to showcase community support

Visit our Join us page for all the ways you can help

Volunteer

The Change It Ourselves Alliance is entirely volunteer-run. Do you have time or skills to support our work? Visit our About page to learn about who we are and how you can get involved.

Print & Distribute Posters

We've provided the designs and the files, but we need the community to print and share the posters. If you'd like to organise this, go for it! And get in touch at contact@changeitourselves.com.au

What if They Say No?

For various reasons, your employer may not allow you to change-the-date. This may be because your workplace or industry isn't set up to handle it or working on the 26th is too difficult to accommodate.

Their Obligations

Whatever the NES and your paperwork says about their obligation to attempt to accommodate your request, that doesn’t mean they will be able to accommodate.

A for Effort

Some workplaces or individual situations just aren’t set up to substitute a public holiday easily. While we hope that you’re employer respects your personal beliefs enough to try and accommodate you, if they still can’t that’s okay.

Register Anyway

You can still Register to indicate your support for swapping the day and there are a number of Other Ways to Support as well.

How is this Possible

While the 26th January is currently the date of Australia Day, the National Employment Standards provides provision to allow employees and employers to substitute any public holiday for another day.

While not every industry implements this option in their awards and agreements, there are many that do and it's easy to look into.

This means that together many employees and employers can agree to celebrate Australia on a day that is more appropriate to more members of our community.

For employees who are under an award or agreement, you will first need to confirm that the award or agreement allows for the swapping of public holidays.

If an employee that made this request they may have checked their own award or agreement already (this site tells them how to do it here). Your HR department should confirm this, though. Awards and agreements are publicly available on the Fair Work Commission website.

Search an award here

Search an agreement here

You can also find out more about both here.

Obligations

The National Employment Standards describes the affordances around substituting a public holiday. Be sure to check the standards as well as any award or agreement that applies to your employee.

Find Out Why

This site also includes a Why page and other resources that may help. 

No One is Obliged

Remember that employees can’t force their employers to let them work on the 26th January, and an employer can’t force their employees to work on a public holiday.

Requests must be reasonable and can be refused. Employers and employees will need to have a conversation and come to an agreement to #changethedate.

You can find more info about entitlements here.

It Need Not Affect Pay

If the paperwork allows for it, and you agree to substitute the Australia Day holiday to a different date, the chosen date becomes the public holiday and the 26th becomes a normal working day. This is likely to be considered substitution and need not create difficulties with pay.

Just Formalities

While there are some formalities to be aware of, they're really quite simple and many workplaces are receptive to this discussion.

Checking Awards and Agreements

Different employees may be employed under different agreements. If allowing employees to take part as a group you may need to check all that are relevant.

Be sure to also check the National Employment Standards around substituting public holidays to understand the possibilities and obligations.

Inform Everyone Early

It’s nice to provide a reasonable amount of advanced notice to your employees so they can make an informed decision to take advantage of this option.

The earlier the better! Employees will want to consider use of their usual annual leave for the year with knowledge of that change.

Respect Works Both Ways

Some of your employees may not opt in on substituting the public holiday.

While the paperwork may indicate you are able to provide the option for employees to substitute a public holiday, note what the National Employment Standards says in regard to not exerting undue influence or pressure.

Which Dates are Appropriate?

A permanent new date for Australia should be more inclusive of all groups within the community, however, which date is a job for the Government and those communities, not this website.

Temporary Dates to Use

Below are some dates you might use to show your support of moving away from the 26th.

Should All Employees Swap to the Same Day?

Not necessarily. While a workplace might decide as a whole to swap a public holiday, if a large number of employees do so individually it might be unrealistic to expect the business to allow them all off on the same business day.

Workplaces Need to Stay Productive

As such, employers may need to ask that different employees swap celebrations onto different days.

We haven't listed all days that might be used as a temporary celebration, though, so if you need a different one, find one that is meaningful to you and convenient to you both.

Remember, it's only a temporary date until this issue is properly addressed.

Preparing Your Business

While employees at your business may choose to work on the 26th, businesses you commonly rely on will likely be on holiday that day. It’s important to consider what work to allocate to the 26th to enable workers to be fairly self-reliant.

Preparing Other Businesses

Likewise, the alternative date that an employee takes off to celebrate Australia may be a day that other colleagues would like to liaise with them. As with any absence from work, sometimes it's useful to inform people prior to the absence.

If you are notifying another business or employee, linking to this page in your email will help provide a compassionate explanation of the absence.

Posters

To make this process easier, the Posters page has a number of great designs that you can download and print yourself.

Some of them help you show general support while some are specifically designed to help inform customers and clients.

Prepare to Work

When you work on a public holiday, businesses you commonly rely on will likely be unavailable that day. It’s important to consider what work to allocate to the 26th to enable you to be fairly self-reliant.

I Contract On Site

If you work on site with another business, you might inquire regarding whether they will be open on the 26th and if they can accommodate you - see the How to Prepare section for some helpful ideas.

I Work in my Own Space

If you work out of your own office, then you have control over your own work days. Read through the Appropriate Dates page linked below, and the subsequent How to Prepare page.

And don't forget to register!

Which Dates are Appropriate?

A permanent new date for Australia should be more inclusive of all groups within the community, however, which date is a job for the Government and those communities, not this website.

Temporary Dates to Use

Below are some dates you might use to show your support of moving away from the 26th.

Prepare to Work

When you work on a public holiday, businesses you commonly rely on will likely be unavailable that day. It’s important to consider what work to allocate to the 26th to enable you to be fairly self-reliant.

All Set?

Don't forget to Register!

Posters

To make this process easier, the Posters page has a number of great designs that you can download and print yourself.

Some of them help you show general support while some are specifically designed to help inform customers and clients.

Let's Highlight Your Business

Supporting #changethedate or changing the date in your workplace is great, but the rest of the country needs to know to help bring about real change.

If you're changing the date, have in the past, or just really want to, we would like to share your story on the Change It Ourselves Facebook and Instagram feeds and put your logo on the website to showcase community support

Visit our Join us page for all the ways you can help

Share Change It Ourselves

It would be great to have the site promoted or shared by you - however you share your news (facebook, email, etc.)

Promote your involvement, ie...

Last year we changed our Australia Day public holiday. Recently we told our story to changeitourselves.com.au to help others do the same...

You could share the YouTube video, the front page of the site, or any other page.

Share early so others have time to join in too.

Hang a poster and share a pic of it to Instagram

Posters help others start noticing - which helps build momentum. Put one up today!

Once you do, share a photo of the poster on your wall or window to instagram and tag #changethedate @change.it.ourselves  - This will go a long way to showing others they're not alone in their support.

Volunteer

The Change It Ourselves Alliance is entirely volunteer-run. Do you have time or skills to support our work? Visit our About page to learn about who we are and how you can get involved.

Print & Distribute Posters

We've provided the designs and the files, but we need the community to print and share the posters. If you'd like to organise this, go for it! And get in touch at contact@changeitourselves.com.au

What's This All About?

Currently, Australia Day is held on January 26th each year. This date was chosen as the anniversary of the first fleet of ships arriving from Great Britain. For this very same reason, however, the 26th of January represents a day of mourning and sorrow for many Aboriginal and and Torres Straight Islander Peoples (Australia's First Peoples).

For them, the beginning date of British colonisation represents the beginning of hardship and mistreatment for their peoples. For this reason, many Australian's believe the 26th of January is an inappropriate date to celebrate Australia. That's what the #changethedate movement is about.

Citizenship Ceremonies

Because of the governments refusal to acknowledge this problem, a number of local Councils have begun advocating for the change on behalf of their citizens.

As a result, some of them have had their license to conduct citizenship ceremonies taken away - but there are other places to do your citizenship ceremony. Check your council's website for more information.

In NSW, there's even an option to do you citizenship ceremony in NAIDOC week (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee).
More info here

What Can You Do?

If you are becoming an Australian citizen. Read through the Why page to understand why the 26th of January doesn't represent what is great about Australia - and know that you don't have to do your citizenship ceremony on that date.

The Why page also includes links to learn more about Australia's First Peoples.