Are all employees entitled to paid leave on public holidays?

Most employees are entitled to paid leave on public holidays - one exception to this is part-time employees who have not worked for their employer at least 40 hours in total in the 5 weeks before the public holiday.

Find out more about public holidays and employment rights, including what happens if you are on sick leave during a public holiday and what happens if a public holiday falls on a weekend. Click Here for more details.

Holiday Entitlements, Did you Know?

Ever wonder how your Holiday entitlements are calculated? 

• Four working weeks, where the employee has worked a minimum of 1,365 hours
• One-third of a working week, where the employee has worked a minimum of 117 hours in the month  
• Eight percent of hours worked, where an employee has worked less than 117 hours in a month, subject to a maximum of four working weeks holidays in a year.  
• Where an employee is entitled to calculate holidays on more than one of the bases above, the one that gives the greatest entitlement shall apply, subject to an overall maximum of four working weeks holidays in a year. 
• A day of sickness during holidays, which is covered by a medical certificate, is not counted as annual leave.
• It is illegal to pay an allowance in lieu of the minimum statutory holiday entitlement of an employee unless the employment relationship is terminated.
• Strictly, the holiday year runs from 1 April to 31 March, but any consistent 12-month period may be used by agreement.

Public holidays

• Full-time employees benefit immediately from a public holiday. Part-time employees must have worked 40 hours over a five-week period ending immediately before the public holiday to qualify.
• There are nine public holidays in the year: 1 January; 17 March, St Patrick's Day; Easter Monday, the first Mondays in May, June, August; the alst Monday in October; 25 December, Christmas Day; 26 December, St Stephen's Day.

When a public holiday falls on a day on which an employee normally works, he/she is entitled to one of the following:  

• A paid day off on that day (default)
• A paid day off within a month of the day  
• An additional day of annual leave  
• An additional day's pay.