# Easter Saturday 2026 — public holiday for all employees?

**Short answer for the payroll officer:** No. Easter Saturday in 2026 is **not** a public holiday for every employee across Australia. The correct answer **depends on the state or territory** (and, in practice, on the employee’s work location under that jurisdiction’s public-holiday law). The position is **not the same everywhere**, so you should not apply one national rule to the whole workforce.

For the 2026 Easter weekend (facts as at FY2025–26), Good Friday falls on **3 April 2026**, **Easter Saturday on 4 April 2026**, Easter Sunday on 5 April 2026, and Easter Monday on 6 April 2026. The question is specifically about **4 April 2026** — the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

## Is the answer uniform nationally?

**No.** Australia does not have a single, nationally uniform list of public holidays for all purposes. Public holidays are declared under **state and territory** legislation (and related proclamations). The Fair Work Act and National Employment Standards treat “public holiday” by reference to those jurisdictional lists. So whether Easter Saturday is a public holiday for a given employee turns primarily on:

1. **Which state or territory’s public-holiday law applies** to that employee’s work (usually where they ordinarily work, per the relevant state/territory Act and how your organisation applies it).
2. **Whether that jurisdiction lists Easter Saturday** (or an equivalent such as “the day after Good Friday”) as a public holiday for 2026.
3. **Any overlay** from an enterprise agreement, award, or employer policy that defines holidays differently — but the starting point for “is it a public holiday?” is still the applicable state or territory schedule unless an instrument clearly replaces or adds to it.

Because **some states** and territories treat Easter Saturday as a public holiday and **others do not**, there is **no single national answer** that applies to all employees.

## How status differs between jurisdictions

**Easter Saturday is a public holiday in some states and territories**, including commonly:

- **New South Wales**
- **Victoria**
- **Queensland**
- **Australian Capital Territory**
- **South Australia** (typically as the public holiday on the day after Good Friday, which in 2026 is Easter Saturday, 4 April)
- **Northern Territory**

In those jurisdictions, eligible employees are generally entitled to public-holiday treatment for that day under the NES (subject to the usual rules on requests to work, reasonable grounds, and payment/penalty rates under the applicable award or agreement).

**Easter Saturday is not a public holiday in other jurisdictions**, notably:

- **Western Australia** — the standard WA public-holiday calendar for the Easter period includes Good Friday and Easter Monday, but not Easter Saturday.
- **Tasmania** — Easter Saturday is not listed as a public holiday; Tasmania’s Easter-related holidays differ (for example, Tasmania observes **Easter Tuesday** as a public holiday, which other jurisdictions do not).

So an employee in Sydney or Melbourne may have Easter Saturday 2026 as a public holiday, while a colleague in Perth or Hobart may not, **for the same calendar date**.

## What to tell payroll

- **Do not** tell all staff nationwide that Easter Saturday 2026 is automatically a public holiday.
- **Do** map each employee (or work site) to the relevant **state or territory** public-holiday list for 2026 and apply that list.
- **Document** the jurisdiction used for each employee and check awards/agreements for any different holiday definitions.
- Re-check official state/territory gazettes and payroll guidance when publishing the FY2025–26 or 2026 holiday calendar, in case of proclamation changes.

*Benchmarking hypothetical only; not legal advice.*

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## Approach note

This response was prepared **closed-book** from the task prompt and sandbox instructions only (no `inputs/` files were present and no external lookup was used). The answer follows the established Australian payroll pattern: public holidays are **jurisdiction-specific**, Easter Saturday is recognised in **some states** but omitted in **others** (especially WA and Tasmania), and the correct treatment for each employee **depends on the state or territory** where they work. The response deliberately avoids a uniform “yes for all Australia” or “no anywhere” conclusion.