Public Holiday Entitlements in Ireland

Public holiday entitlements in Ireland are set out in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. They can be complex, especially with varying work patterns. Here is a straightforward breakdown of what your employees are entitled to.

Ireland's 10 Public holidays

1. New Year's Day (1 January)

2. St Brigid's Day (the first Monday in February, or 1 February if that date falls on a Friday)

3. St Patrick's Day (17 March)

4. Easter Monday

5. First Monday in May

6. First Monday in June

7. First Monday in August

8. Last Monday in October

9. Christmas Day (25 December)

10. St Stephen's Day (26 December)

    * Good Friday is not a public holiday and is a normal working day.

Public holiday benefits

Eligible employees are entitled to ONE of the following for each public holiday, as chosen by
you:

1. a paid day off on the public holiday

2. a paid day off within a month of the public holiday

3. an additional day of annual leave

4. an additional day's pay

Who is entitled?

Full-time employees have an immediate entitlement.

Part-time employees, and employees whose hours vary, are entitled if they have worked a total of at least 40 hours in the previous five weeks.

What should they be paid?

What an employee gets paid depends on their work pattern; it can differ for each public holiday and each employee. The pay rules below are based on SI 475/1997 (the Organisation of Working Time (Determination of Pay for Holidays) Regulations 1997). Include any regular bonus or allowance, such as Sunday premium, but leave out overtime.

Full-time employees

Full-time employees are entitled to one of the four benefits above. If they work on the public holiday, they should also be paid for the time worked at their agreed rate. If your business is closed and they would normally work that day, they should be paid their normal day's pay.

Part-time employees with a fixed roster

• Works on the public holiday: paid for the hours worked, plus what they were paid for their last shift before the public holiday.
• Normally rostered that day but doesn't work: their normal day's pay.

• Not normally rostered that day: one-fifth of their average weekly pay over the last 13 weeks.

Employees whose hours vary

• Works on the public holiday: paid for the hours worked, plus what they were paid for  their last shift before the public holiday.

• Doesn't work on the public holiday, including when the business is closed: one fifth of their average weekly pay over the last 13 weeks.

Public holidays at the weekend

Where a public holiday falls on a day your business doesn't normally open, such as a Saturday or  Sunday, your employees are still entitled to benefit as above. There is no legal entitlement to have the next working day off.

What about employees on leave?

Employees keep their public holiday entitlement while on statutory leave, such as maternity, additional maternity, adoptive, additional adoptive, paternity, parent's, parental, force majeure or domestic violence leave, with some limitations:

• Carer's leave: public holidays that fall within the first 13 weeks of the leave.

• Sick leave: public holidays that fall within the first 26 weeks of absence, or 52 weeks if the absence is due to an injury at work.

There is no entitlement during health and safety leave.

If a public holiday falls during an employee's annual leave, that day is not counted as annual
leave. The employee keeps the annual leave day and also gets the public holiday benefit, if they
are eligible.

Lay off

If an employee is on temporary lay off, they are entitled to benefit for public holidays that fall within the
first 13 weeks of the lay off.

Leaving employment

If an employee leaves in the week before a public holiday but worked for you during the four weeks before that week, they are entitled to pay for the public holiday.

You must keep records that show you have met your public holiday obligations, including which benefit each employee received and what they were paid.