With St Patrick’s Day soon approaching, it’s important to ensure employers are aware of what employees are entitled to a public holiday benefit and how to calculate each employee’s benefit.

This year St Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday. With many working weeks running from Monday – Friday, the public holiday falling on a Saturday can cause some confusion for employers.

Like all public holidays the means of figuring out whether or not an employee is entitled to a public holiday is as follows:

Full-time employees:

All full-time employees are entitled to benefit from the public holiday irrespective of their length of service.

 Part-time employees:

Part-time employees are entitled to remuneration for the public holiday where they have worked at least 40 hours in the five weeks preceding the holiday.

An employee will begin to accrue public holiday entitlements from the moment they commence working for their employer.

How do I calculate public holiday entitlements?

The method of calculating an employees entitlement will be dependent on whether or not the employee is a salaried, variable hours of fixed rate employee or whether they are commission based or piece rate workers:

1. Salaried, variable hours of fixed rate employees: If the public holiday falls on a day the employee has (a) actually worked, or (b) would normally have worked, then they are entitled to remuneration equivalent to the hours that employee worked on their last working day before the holiday.
   If the Public holiday falls on a day and (a) the employee didn’t work on that day, and (b) the employee wouldn’t normally work on that day, then they are entitled to remuneration equivalent to one-fifth of their last normal working week.
2. Commission or Piece rate: If the public holiday falls on a day the employee has (a) actually worked, or (b) would normally have worked, then they are entitled to remuneration equivalent to their average daily pay over the thirteen week period prior to the Public holiday.
   If the public holiday falls on a day and (a) the employee didn’t work on that day, and (b) the employee wouldn’t normally work on that day, then they are entitled to remuneration equivalent to one-fifth of their average weekly pay over the thirteen week period prior to the Public holiday.

Public Holiday Benefit

In respect of a public holiday an employer has the option of proving one of the below four benefits to their employees:

1. A paid day off on the public holiday
2. A paid day off within a month of the holiday
3. An extra day’s annual leave
4. An extra day’s pay

Where a public holiday falls on a weekend the public holiday does not automatically transfer to the Monday, but the employer may transfer it if they wish.

A lot of companies will decide to transfer the public holiday that falls on Saturday 17^th March to Monday 19^th March and give employees a paid day off on that day, however, this is not a legal obligation.

If you have any questions regarding public holidays please contact the advice line on +353 1 886 0350