At more than double the normal rate of pay for casuals working every day of the upcoming Easter long weekend, South Pacific Palms Motor Inn owner Carol Durrant said the motel’s restaurant, Blackie’s, would likely be closed for at least some of the public holidays. 

“It means you can’t afford to open the doors,” she said. 

“Anyone in town employing casual staff is affected.”

Ms Durrant said in the past public holiday rates had not applied to every day of the Easter long weekend. However, with four days in a row, she said it was likely the Tuncurry business would not be the only one affected and she expected many would make the hard decision not to open for a day or two, as well as adding on public holiday tariffs. 

“Anyone paying their people properly will feel it,” she said. 

“The service industries are the hardest hit.” 

She said it was important that staff knew that they were entitled to the additional holiday wages and approach Fair Work Australia if they had concerns that they were not being properly paid. 

Ms Durrant said the hospitality industry would continue its long-standing fight to address problems with penalty rates, which it argues cripples small businesses, especially in regional areas. 

Restaurant and Catering Australia is awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the Fair Work Commission to review penalty rates that have been set in the Restaurant Industry Award.

The industry body estimates approximately one third of restaurants are now closed on all Sundays, due to prohibitive labour costs.