What an old enterprise clause cost Village Roadshow when the calendar shifted
A Queensland theme park giant has been told its enterprise agreement can't override the National Employment Standards. The reconciliation bill is now coming due.
The Fair Work Commission ruled on 12 May 2026 that Village Roadshow Theme Parks got the 2025 Australia Day public holiday pay wrong. The company had applied an old clause in its enterprise agreement to pay penalty rates on the Sunday "celebrated day" instead of the Monday gazetted holiday.
Here's how the dispute played out. Australia Day fell on Sunday, 26 January 2025. Under the Queensland Holidays Act 1983, when Australia Day lands on a weekend, the public holiday rolls over to the following Monday. So the gazetted holiday for 2025 was Monday, 27 January.
The Village Roadshow Theme Parks - AWU Agreement 2016-2018 says public holidays are only recognised on the "celebrated day." Acting on that clause, the company paid the public holiday penalty rate on the Sunday and ordinary rates on the Monday. Employees rostered on the Monday got no penalty loading. Some were told they'd need to use annual leave or long service leave to take the gazetted holiday off.
The Australian Workers' Union filed a dispute under section 739 of the Fair Work Act. It argued the clause excluded the NES and was void under section 56. Village Roadshow initially disagreed. Mid-hearing, the employer shifted its position and conceded that Monday, 27 January 2025 was...
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