The following leave provisions are to apply over the Christmas and New Year period 2005/2006.

Public Holidays

The Christmas and New Year public holidays for New South Wales are on the following dates:

• Sunday 25 December 2005 Christmas Day#
• Monday 26 December 2005 ##
• Tuesday 27 December 2005 Boxing Day
• Monday 2 January 2006 ###

# Additional Public Holiday
## Christmas Day holiday automatically transferred from the Sunday to the Monday.
### New Year's Day holiday automatically transferred from the Sunday to the Monday.

It is noted that on 20 October the Minister for Industrial Relations announced that, since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, the NSW Government has declared a public holiday to cover the day itself, in addition to those already occurring for 26 and 27 December.

Public Service Holiday

Subject to provisions in enterprise arrangements, public service employees who are not entitled to a union picnic day or some other special day, such as the Tuesday after Easter, are entitled to a public service holiday during the period between Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

The conditions for the granting and taking of the Public Service Holiday are set out in clause 18 of the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award 2002, and the Personnel Handbook. Copies of the Award and the Handbook are available on the Premier's Department Website.

It should be noted that under the Award, Department Heads are required to determine which day is to be observed as the Public Service Holiday in their agency (refer clause 18(a)(3) of the Award).
 
Concessional Leave

The conditions for granting and taking of the Christmas concession are set out in Part 6-6.2 of the Personnel Handbook.

For the 2005 Christmas and New Year season, the half day's concessional leave may be granted to employees on the afternoon of Friday 23 December 2005 or Friday 30 December 2005 subject to operational requirements. The approval is subject to offices being kept open until normal closing times, with adequate staffing to meet all public requirements.

Any enquiries regarding the above may be directed to your client contact officer in the Public Employment Office.

C Gellatly
Director-General

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