Public holidays

What it means

Public holidays and days of rest are days set by law on which people normally do not work. They include, for example, 1 January, Easter, 1 May and Christmas. The law distinguishes between a state holiday as a symbolic day and a day of rest on which employees have time off.

The list has changed in recent years and some state holidays have stopped being days off. Companies should therefore check the current calendar every year, as the number of working days, pay and shift planning all depend on it.

A holiday falling on a working day reduces the working time fund for that month. An employee on a monthly salary loses no pay, and an hourly-paid employee receives compensation for the holiday if they would otherwise have worked that day.

How it works in practice

If an employee works on a holiday, they are entitled to their wage plus a supplement of at least their average earnings. The employer may agree with the employee that instead of the supplement they get time off in lieu, which must then be granted at an agreed time.

On a holiday the employer may order only essential work, for example in continuous operations, healthcare, transport or maintenance. When planning the working time schedule, holidays must be taken into account in advance and employees informed early.

Holidays also affect deadlines. If the last day of a filing deadline for a tax return or another act falls on a Saturday, Sunday or day of rest, procedural rules usually move the deadline to the next working day.

What to watch out for

Payroll software usually relies on a holiday calendar that must be updated after a change in the law. Otherwise the working time fund, supplements and overtime may be calculated wrongly, leading to incorrect pay and later corrections to contributions.

Moving a deadline to the next working day does not apply automatically to every deadline, especially not to contractual deadlines between companies, where the parties' agreement decides. For invoice due dates and contractual dates it is therefore wise to state explicitly what happens if they fall on a holiday.