Carried Forward Substituted Public Holiday to Next Calendar Year

Can the substituted Public Holiday leave being carried forward to the following calendar year?

If the Public Holiday falls on non-working day, eg. Saturday for usual 5 days work week employee, usually company will credit additional 1 day annual leave into the leave balance.

Some employers argue that this particular day of annual leave cannot be carried forward to the following working year and it shall be consumed within the same year. However, the actual fact is, basically the additional day leave is the "earned" public holiday of the employee, and it is employee entitlement to earn and use the public holiday.

Company can have its own leave policy to govern the annual leave, however, we would advise that company shall notify the employee up-front on the expiry date of this particular leave to avoid unnecessary dispute.