What Is Holiday Pay and How to Create a Holiday Pay Policy

The Tech Trend
3 min readDec 23, 2022

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Any compensation that an employee receives to work during a vacation is called holiday pay. Some businesses can close on Christmas Day and Labor Day. Others don’t. If you have to be open on holidays, the question is whether your employees will also be available who aren’t working should be paid for these days, and those who work on holidays should receive additional compensation.

Holiday pay is usually at the discretion of the employer and can be different for each person when deciding how much, If possible to pay holiday workers who work or don’t work on holidays. It is crucial to know what holiday pay means How it is calculated and how to create a holiday pay policy.

What is holiday pay?

Holiday pay, even though it has a unique name, is simply the compensation that employees get for working or not working during any holiday. Employees may be given holiday pay as a gift to allow them to take time off for the holidays.

The most common form of holiday pay in the United States is time-and-a-half pay. This is when an employee receives their regular rate plus one-half of their regular wage for every hour they work on holidays. You may also receive a holiday bonus or time off for the day of a vacation.

The United States doesn’t have any laws that require employees to be paid for holidays. However, it is quite common to pay for the following holidays:

  • New Year’s Day
  • Easter
  • Christmas Eve
  • Christmas Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day

Many companies offer additional federal holidays, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day, along with paid leave to their employees. According to a 2019 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 96% of private employers offer holiday pay to their employees.

Please note that Public Employers are required to observe all federal holidays

  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • George Washington’s birthday
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Columbus Day
  • Veterans Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Christmas Day

Who is eligible to receive holiday pay?

Any employee who works on an annual vacation is eligible for holiday compensation. However, the pay must not exceed the employee’s normal rate of pay. As an incentive and benefit to employees, employers may offer higher rates of pay for certain holidays.

What religious accommodations are you required to make?

Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that employers who employ 15 or more people must accommodate employees’ “sincerely held religious beliefs or practices” unless it would be a hardship or difficulty. For example, You can offer employees floating holidays that they can use at their own discretion or pay them time off to observe religious holidays.

Originally Published on The Tech Trend

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The Tech Trend
The Tech Trend

Written by The Tech Trend

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