Public holiday and entitlement pay

Public holiday entitlement

An Employee is entitled to 11 paid public holidays a year under the Employment Act. If an Employee is required to work on a public holiday, an Employer should pay the Employee an extra day's salary or grant the Employee a full day off. Alternatively, the Employer is also allowed under the Employment Act to provide time-off (i.e. less than full day) in lieu of working on a public holiday to:

• All Managers and Executives
• Workmen earning more than $4,500/month
• Non-workmen earning more than $2,600/month

Eligibility for 1-day gross rate of pay

An Employee is entitled to his/her gross rate of pay (1 day) on a public holiday, if:

• He/she is not absent on the working day immediately before or after a holiday without consent or a reasonable excuse
• He/she is on authorised leave (e.g. sick leave, annual leave, unpaid leave) on the day immediately before or after a holiday

When an employee is not eligible

The Employee is not entitled to holiday pay if the holiday falls on a day when he/she is on approved unpaid leave.

If the holiday falls on a non-working day

If the holiday falls on a non-working day or off day, the Employer needs to do one of the following:

• Compensate the Employee with an extra day's pay in lieu of that holiday
• Give the Employee another day off as a holiday