Public holiday
Also known as: bank holiday, national holiday, statutory holiday, legal holiday
A public holiday is a day that law or government decision sets as a day off for most workers, for a national, religious or cultural occasion. Which days count, whether they are paid and what applies to people who work on them is set country by country.
Public holidays look like a calendar matter and turn into a payroll and scheduling matter. The number of holidays differs between countries. Some fall on fixed dates and others move every year with a religious or lunar calendar. Countries differ on whether a holiday that lands on a weekend is replaced by another day. For a company with staff in several countries, one shared holiday calendar does not work: the calendar belongs to the workplace or the country. Whether a public holiday inside a leave period uses up a leave day depends on local law and the leave policy, so state your counting method in writing.
How countries differ
- Number of days: set by each country, and in some places by region or state
- Fixed or movable: New Year's Day has a fixed date, Easter-based holidays move every year, and holidays tied to the lunar calendar fall roughly 11 days earlier each year
- Weekend rule: some countries give a substitute weekday when a holiday falls on a weekend, others do not
- Pay: the rules for monthly-salaried and for hourly staff can differ, so check how local law and the contract treat each
- Work on the day: some countries require premium pay or time off in lieu, others leave it to the contract
What to set up in HR and payroll
- A holiday calendar per country or workplace, entered for the full year before it starts
- The work week per workplace, so that a holiday on a non-working day is handled correctly
- A rule for how holidays inside leave periods are counted
- A rule for work on a holiday: premium pay, time off in lieu, or both
- A yearly review, since movable holidays and new government decisions change the dates
Worked example
Example with made-up numbers: a company with a Monday-to-Friday week has 11 public holidays in a year, and 3 of them fall on a Saturday or Sunday. If the local law does not move weekend holidays, only 8 holidays reduce the working days. In a year with 261 weekdays, that leaves 253 working days before any annual leave.