With three public holidays falling during the Christmas period, this article will outline the entitlements that all employees have in respect of these public holidays and how the entitlements differ for salary paid and hourly paid employees on the one hand and piece rate and commission based employees on the other. In addition, we will investigate the special case of variable hour employees.
The public holidays which fall during the Christmas period are:
- Christmas Day (Tuesday 25th December)
- St Stephen’s Day (Wednesday 26th December)
- New Year’s Day (Tuesday 1st January)
What is the employee entitled to?
In respect of each public holiday, an employee is entitled to one of the following:
- A paid day off on the public holiday;
- A paid day off within a month of the public holiday;
- An extra day’s annual leave; or
- An extra day’s pay
The option which the employee will receive is at the employer’s discretion. However, the employee may, within 21 days of the holiday, request that the employer nominates one of the four options. If the employer fails to do this within 14 days of the public holiday, the employee will automatically be entitled to a paid day off.
Importantly, there is no service requirement in respect of benefits for Public Holiday entitlements; employees are entitled to one of the above options regardless of length of service. However, part-time employees only qualify for the entitlement where they have worked at least 40 hours in the five weeks preceding the public holiday.
The option of or an additional day’s annual leave is quite self-explanatory. However, the options of a paid day off and an additional day’s pay are a little trickier and are a great source of confusion for employers throughout Ireland and will be discussed below.
What if the employee works on the Public Holiday or it is a day they normally work?
Where (a) the employee actually works on the public holiday, or (b) the employee doesn’t work the public holiday but they would normally have been working had it not been a public holiday, then they will be entitled to an additional day’s pay, on top of payment for the hours they have actually worked. This additional day’s pay is calculated as follows:
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For time rate, fixed rate or salary employees, the additional day’s pay the employee receives is to be equal to the hours worked by the employee on their last working day before the public holiday. For example, if the employee works 4 hours on a Public Holiday Monday and they worked 8 hours on their last working day then the employee is entitled to (4hours + 8hours) = 12 hours.
- This calculation also applies to a variable hour employee. Such an employee may not have a ‘normal working day’ but if they are expected to work on the public holiday then they then this calculation also applies to them.
- For piece rate or commission employees, they should receive the equivalent of an average day’s pay, calculated over the 13 weeks ending immediately before the public holiday. Thus, if the employee works 4 hours on a Public Holiday Monday and the average working rate over the previous 13 weeks was 6 hours then the employee is entitled to (4hours + 6hours) = 10 hours
What if the employee doesn’t work on the Public Holiday and it isn’t a day they normally work?
Where the employee is not required to work on the public holiday, and it is not a day they normally work, then they will be entitled to be paid the equivalent of one-fifth of their last working week before the public holiday as their paid day off entitlement.
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For time rate, fixed rate or salary employees, the paid day off the employee is entitled to the equivalent of one-fifth of their last working week before the public holiday as their paid day off entitlement.
- This calculation also applies to variable hour employees.
- For piece rate or commission employees, they are entitled to be paid the one-fifth of their average weekly pay calculated over the 13 weeks ending before the public holiday.
When does an employee have no entitlement to public holidays?
It is important to remember that public holiday entitlement does accrue during maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure leave, the first 13 weeks of carer’s leave, annual leave, jury service and the first 13 weeks of any absence authorised by the employer, for example, a career break, so employees on any of these types of leave will still accrue the public holiday entitlement during the period of leave. However, an employee will not have any public holiday entitlement where:
- in the case of a part time employee, they have not worked at least 40 hours in the five weeks ending on the day before the public holiday falls;
- the employee is absent for more than 52 weeks due to a work related illness/injury;
- the employee is absent more than 26 weeks due to a non-work related illness/injury;
- an employee who is absent for more than 13 weeks due to lay off;
- an employee who is on health and safety leave;
- or an employee who is absent by reason of strike.
For further guidance on ensuring that your employees are receiving the correct Christmas public holiday entitlements, please contact the 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 855 5050.
