Public Holiday Pay Entitlements

There can often be some confusion surrounding an employee’s entitlement to pay for a public holiday particularly where the employee may be part-time or the public holiday falls on a day that the employee does not normally work.

It is also worth noting that not every bank holiday is a public holiday though in most cases they coincide. Good Friday is a bank holiday but it is not a public holiday. The following dates are the official public holidays in Ireland.

• New Year’s Day (1 January)
• St. Patrick’s Day (17 March)
• Easter Monday
• First Monday in May, June, August
• Last Monday in October
• Christmas Day (25 December)
• St. Stephen’s Day (26 December)

Employees who qualify for public holiday benefit will be entitled to one of the following:

• A paid day off on the public holiday
• An additional day of annual leave
• An additional day’s pay
• A paid day off within a month of the public holiday

So, who is entitled to a payment

• Part-time employees qualify for public holiday entitlement if they have worked at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks ending the day before the public holiday.
• Full time employees are not required to have worked up a minimum number of hours. If the public holiday falls on a day which the employee would normally work:

How to calculate the amount to be paid?

• Full-time employees are entitled to one of the above four options at the employer’s discretion.
• Part-time employees have the same entitlement, so where the employee’s pay is a fixed amount the normal daily rate can be used. If the pay varies, the daily rate should be calculated over the 13 weeks immediately before the public holiday in question.
• Further information can be found at Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.

If the public holiday falls on a day which the employee does not normally work: