Public holidays can be a real headache for employers especially over Spring where three public holidays fall in relatively quick succession; St. Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday and the 1
st Monday in May. These public holidays also fall before and after the end and beginning of two financial years so they come at a time when employers are either looking to hit targets and finish the year on a high or introducing new plans and budgets and looking to get the year off to a head start. 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:
(1) A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
(2) An additional day of annual leave
(3) An additional day's pay
(4) 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, this calculation applies to an employee who
either (a) works on the public holiday,
or (b) would have worked that day had it not been a public holiday. If the employee falls into this category then the calculation is simple: what hours did they work on their last normal working day before the public holiday? This figure will be what the employee is entitled to for the public holiday. Let’s look at St. Patrick’s Day as an example:
- The public holiday falls on Monday 17 March and this is a day the employee normally works.
- Their last working day before St. Patrick’s Day was Friday on which they worked 7 hours.
- Thus, the employee’s public holiday entitlement for St. Patrick’s Day is 7 hours pay.
This calculation is usually fairly set in stone for set hourly full-time employees as they would normally work the same hours every day. However, if the employee is part-time or variable hour particularly 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, this calculation applies to an employee who (a) did not work on the public holiday,
and (b) does not normally work on the day the public holiday falls. If the employee falls into this category then the calculation is simple: they are entitled to one-fifth of the total hours they worked in their last normal working week before the public holiday. Let’s look at Easter Monday as an example:
- The Public Holiday falls on Monday 21 April and the employee doesn’t work on the holiday and they don’t normally work Mondays.
- The employee worked 18 hours over the previous week, running from 14 April to 20 April.
- Thus, the employee would be entitled to one-fifth of 18 hours for the Easter 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 are not the same thing. Let’s look at the May Public Holiday as an example::
- We will take an employee who always works 8 hours a day and who always works Mondays, who is asked to work for just 4 hours on the May Public Holiday, which falls on 7 May, as the employer is shutting the doors early.
- For this full-timer, their entitlement for the public holiday (as we looked at above) would be “an additional day’s pay” of 8 hours. This 8 hours would be added to the 4 hours he actually worked on the holiday meaning a total of 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.
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.
