Annual leave: What are workers’ rights regarding holidays?

What are employees’ entitlements in relation to Public Holidays?

Most employees are entitled to paid leave on public holidays. There is an exception for certain part-time employees

If you qualify for public holiday benefit, you are entitled to one of the following:

• A paid day off on the public holiday
• An additional day of annual leave
• An additional day’s pay
• A paid day off within a month of the public holiday

You can ask your employer at least 21 days before a public holiday, which of the alternatives will apply. If your employer does not respond at least 14 days before the public holiday, you are entitled to take the actual public holiday as a paid day off.

Q. How does this apply to part-time workers?

Part-time workers that work at least 40 hours in the five weeks before the public holiday, if the public holiday falls on a day they normally work, get paid for the day even if they don’t work. If they have to work that day, they are entitled to an extra day’s pay.

If you don’t normally work on a certain day but it’s a public holiday, you should be paid a fifth of your weekly pay. Even if you never work on public holidays, you still get paid a fifth of your weekly pay as compensation for the public holiday.

You can count time spent on annual leave as ‘time worked’ when calculating the 40 hours worked in the five weeks before the public holiday.

Q. What happens if the public holidays falls on a weekend?

When a public holiday falls on a day which is not a ‘normal working day’ for that business (for example, on Saturday or Sunday), you are still entitled to benefit for that public holiday.

For example, you may get an extra day of annual leave, an additional day’s pay, or a paid day off within a month of the public holiday. However, you do not have any automatic legal entitlement to the next working day off work.

Q. Are all workers entitled to Annual Leave?

Yes, including full-time, part-time, temporary and casual workers.

Your entitlement depends on how much time you have worked in a leave year. The statutory leave year runs from April 1 to March 31. Most employers use the calendar year (January to December) instead of the official leave year to calculate your entitlement for administrative reasons, but this does not affect your statutory leave entitlements. Your employer should tell you when your leave year begins and ends.

There are three ways to calculate your annual leave entitlement. You can use whichever method gives you the greater entitlement.

If you have worked at least 1,365 hours in a leave year, you are entitled to the maximum of four working weeks’ paid annual leave. You cannot use this method if you changed employment during the leave year.

Calculate 1/3 of a working week for each calendar month in which you worked at least 117 hours.

Calculate 8% of the hours you worked in the leave year, subject to a maximum of four working weeks.

Q. How do you calculate your annual leave if you are a part-time worker?

Generally, annual leave for part-time workers is calculated as 8% of the hours worked. If you work full-time for some months and part-time for the rest of the year, you should calculate the leave for the full-time and the part-time periods of work separately.

Q. What happens to annual leave if you are on Maternity Leave or Parental Leave?

Annual leave is not affected by other types of statutory leave. Time spent on maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure leave, and the first 13 weeks of carer’s leave is treated as though you have been in employment. For example, time spent on parental leave can be used to build up your annual leave entitlement.

Q. What happens to annual leave if you leave your job?

If you are leaving a job without taking all annual leave you are entitled to, your employer must pay you for the days not taken.

Q. Can an employer force an employee to take annual leave?

Usually, employees can ask to take annual leave at specific times. Your employer can accept your request, or refuse it. They decide when annual leave may be taken, but this is subject to a number of conditions. The employer must take into account your family responsibilities, as well as the available opportunities for rest and recreation. They must discuss your annual leave with you (or your union) at least a month before you are to take it.

Q. Can an employer offer to pay the worker extra in lieu of taking annual leave?

It is illegal for an employer to pay an employee extra instead of allowing them take the minimum statutory annual leave entitlement, except where the employment ends and the employee has earned unused annual leave days. In that case, the employer should pay the employee for any outstanding annual leave and public holidays.

Q. What if one gets sick while on annual leave?

If so, you should get a medical certificate from your GP as soon as possible to cover the days you were sick. Give this to your employer as soon as you return to work. This way, the sick days will not count as annual leave, and you can take your annual leave at a later date.

Your employer cannot make you take annual leave for time you were on certified sick leave.

Q. Can an employee ‘carry over’ annual leave to next year?

Annual leave should be taken within the leave year. Depending on your employer, you can agree to take it within six months of the relevant leave year. Any further carrying-over (also called holding over) of annual leave would need to be agreed between you and your employer. If you are on long-term sick leave and cannot take annual leave due to illness, you can carry it over for up to 15 months after the end of the year it was earned. If you leave your job within these 15 months, you should get payment instead of the leave you did not take due to illness.

Q. What redress is available to employees who believe that they are not receiving their correct public holiday entitlement or annual leave entitlement?

If you are not getting your correct annual leave/public holidays, you should speak with your employer first and try to resolve the issue.

If you cannot resolve the problem with your employer, you can make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission.

You can get advice and assistance from your local Citizens Information Centre on how to do this.