Public Holiday entitlements over the Christmas period
Public holidays can be a real headache for employers especially around Christmas when employees are eager to get as much time off as possible around the holidays. Employers can get caught up trying to wrap up work before the New Year commences and have little time to focus on their employees’ public holiday entitlements. The matter can often be complicated further when the public holidays (Christmas Day, St. Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day) fall mid-week. In this article we have provided an easy go-to guide for employers to take the pain out of public holiday calculations.
Public Holiday Entitlements
As a general overview, the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 requires employers to provide one of the following options in lieu of a public holiday:
- A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
- An additional day of annual leave
- An additional day's pay
- The nearest church holiday to the public holiday as a paid day off.
Most employers normally opt for either (3) or (4) above; an additional day’s pay if the employee works or a paid day off if they don’t work. These calculations can differ from employee to employee and the most important consideration for every employee is whether or not they have worked or normally work on the day the public holiday falls. The below rules apply irrespective of whether the employee is full-time, part-time or fixed-term.
What Happens if the Public Holiday Falls on a Day that the Employee Works or is Normally Rostered to Work?
If the public holiday falls on a day the employee works or is normally rostered to work then the employee is entitled to be paid “the equivalent of the hours they worked on the last working day before the holiday”. To simplify this, if the public holiday falls on Wednesday 25 December and the employee worked 8 hours on Tuesday 24 December then the employee is entitled 8 hours for the Christmas Day public holiday. This calculation is usually fairly set in stone for set hourly full-time employees as they would normally work, for example, 8 hours a day. However, if the employee is part-time or variable hour then the public holiday entitlement may vary from one public holiday to the next so ensure to take advice if you are uncertain.
What Happens if the Public Holiday Falls on a Day that the Employee Does Not Work and it is a Day that the Employee Would Not Normally Work?
If the employee doesn’t work on the public holiday itself and it is a day that they don’t normally work then they are entitled to be paid the equivalent of “one-fifth of their last working week”. To simplify this, if the Public Holiday falls on Wednesday 25 December and the employee worked 18 hours over the previous week, running from 16 December to 22 December, then the employee would be entitled to one-fifth of 18 hours for the Christmas public holiday. This equals (1/5 of 18 hours) = 3.6 hours. Similarly, if they worked for 40 hours over that week then it would be (1/5 of 40 hours) = 8 hours. Again, this calculation is usually fairly set in stone for set hourly full-time employees. However, if the employee is part-time or variable hour then the public holiday entitlement will likely vary from one public holiday to the next so ensure to take advice if you are uncertain.
Don’t Fall Into the “Double-Time” Trap!!
One key issue that often arises is that employers tend to misinterpret “an additional day’s pay” as meaning “double-time”. While they appear similar they do mean something different. We will take an employee who always works 8 hours a day and is asked to work for just 4 hours on St Stephen’s Day, as the employer is shutting the doors early. For this full-timer, they are entitled to “an additional day’s pay” (i.e. normal working day’s hours) of 8 hours which is added to the 4 hours that was actually worked. Thus the entitlement is (8+4) = 12 hours pay. If, however, the employer paid “double-time” (i.e. 4 hours x 2) then the employee would have only gotten 8 hours pay and has therefore been short-changed. The basic rule is don’t use “double-time”; use the calculations provided in the above guidance.
How Many Public Holidays Fall Over Christmas
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not Public Holidays, so unless you have contractually agreed to pay more, you are only obliged to pay a basic rate for hours worked on these days. Thus, the only Public Holidays you need to be worried about are Christmas Day, St. Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day.
Don’t let Public Holiday calculations stress you out! Even the most seasoned HR Managers find these calculations difficult at times so employers should seek advice from Peninsula Business Services if they have any further queries in relation to Public Holiday pay and entitlement. Please phone the 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 8555050 and one of our experienced advisors will be happy to assist.
