Do employees get paid during the time a business is closed for renovations?

It seems that if the employee is put out of work at no fault of their own, they should still get paid.

Should isn't the same as "has to."

The doctrine for employment law in most areas of the US is "at will" employment. Either party can legally terminate employment at any time and that is (with specific exceptions) generally held to not be a basis for legal actions.

Layoffs tend to follow exactly the same principle. Many companies have temporary layoffs due to business conditions, and, for renovations. It's not only legal but it is widely practiced in manufacturing type fields.

Being hourly or salaried has little to do with it. If your employer has no work available for you, they can dismiss you, permanently or temporarily.

Where the law enters into this is unemployment eligibility. When an employee has exceeded a certain number of months of continuous employment and earns over a certain amount on average per time period, their state will consider them eligible for unemployment payments during a layoff, temporary or permanent. Part of the unemployment payment comes from the most recent employer. So you'd have to pay a part of your employee's unemployment payment during a temporary layoff. That is where the law applies to the employer.

There are also the following conditions - edge cases - that affect layoffs.

There is a national law that says that an employer of a certain size (number of employees) who has to make permanent layoffs of a certain number must pre-announce the layoffs publicly. This applies to employers laying off hundreds of employees. I do not know the specific laws. Since that is probably not the case here I'm not going to look it up.

Secondly, if you fire someone for cause, many jurisdictions disallow the person from collecting unemployment payments. I have witnessed a few employers treat a layoff like a firing in order to not have to affect their unemployment payments. When it is a group of, say, 10 or more employees who are "fired", that can be successfully contested and it looks like a layoff. Now, this is sleazy, but I have witnessed it attempted.

The bottom line to answer your question: normally almost never, at the vast majority of companies. The exceptions (businesses that do cover payroll while employees are furloughed) get written up in the business press as extremely generous.

Should employees get paid during a shutdown? Depends on the situation and how irreplaceable the affected employees are and how much money is available. You should determine your unemployment burden if you do a temporary layoff. That's normally what is done.

Also if practical, look for creative solutions like renting a temporary office or work-from-home that justifies keeping people on the payroll.

In Australia, it would depend on what basis they were employed. If they were casual then you wouldn't roster them on and therefore wouldn't pay them. If the staff were permanent employees, then you would have to pay them for the time the restaurant was closed.

There should be a government body in your area you can ask about this.

For a specific case, say a restaurant closes for a month to renovate, do they fire their employees, lay them off, put them on leave without pay,

In most countries it is illegal to put employees on leave without pay without their fault or a catastrophy. Rnenovations don't count.

Firing them is an option, just you won't get them back if they are good. You fuck them, they leave.

At the end, you pay them. Part of renovation costs.

If they are paid hourly (and I suspect they are in a restaurant), you probably are not required to pay them for the time they don't work. When I used to work in food service, occasionally I would show up to work, and be told we were closed for kitchen cleaning, or something similar, and I'd go home without pay. Of course, this was just for a single day, not for a full month.

And, as others have said, it likely depends on your local laws.

But even if it's legal not to pay them, it's probably not a good idea. As @NetTecture said, many will probably leave (whether or not you officially "fire" them).

If there's any way you can afford to continue paying them, I would suggest doing so, as it seems like the right thing to do. Maybe even if you can't pay them their full wage.

You might also look for creative ways to keep employing some of them during the rennovation. Can you pay any of them to help paint, or tear up old carpet? Whether this is possible may also depend on local laws, insurance, and who you contract most of the rennovation work to, etc.