Public holiday pay in Ireland : penalty rates and the amount owed

• Ireland has 10 public holidays a year (including St Brigid’s Day since 2023). Most employees are entitled to a public holiday benefit under OTWA; Good Friday is not a public holiday.
• Full-time staff: immediate entitlement. Part-time / casual: generally at least 40 hours worked in the 5 weeks ending the day before the public holiday.
• If you qualify, the employer chooses one of: paid day off on the day; paid day off within a month; extra day’s annual leave; extra day’s pay.
• You may ask at least 21 days before which option will apply; if the employer does not respond at least 14 days before, you are entitled to the public holiday as a paid day off (Citizens Information / OTWA s.21).
• Part-timers who do not normally work that weekday often get one-fifth of normal weekly wage. Daily rates follow S.I. 475/1997. Disputes: WRC within 6 months (plus up to 6 more for reasonable cause). Irish law only.

Ten public holidays

Citizens Information and the WRC list Ireland’s ten public holidays: New Year’s Day (1 January); St Brigid’s Day public holiday (first Monday in February, or 1 February if that date falls on a Friday); Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March); Easter Monday; first Monday in May; first Monday in June; first Monday in August; last Monday in October; Christmas Day (25 December); Saint Stephen’s Day (26 December).

Good Friday is not a public holiday. Some workplaces close by custom or contract, but there is no automatic OTWA public-holiday benefit for that day. Do not mix Irish dates with UK bank-holiday lists: ACAS and the UK Working Time Regulations do not decide OTWA entitlements in the Republic.

Who qualifies

Section 21 OTWA and official summaries put it simply:

• Whole-time (full-time) employees have an immediate entitlement to public holiday benefit.
• Other employees (part-time, casual, and similar) qualify for a given public holiday only if they have worked for that employer at least 40 hours during the 5 weeks ending on the day before that public holiday.

Citizens Information notes that time on annual leave can count toward those 40 hours. Qualifying is assessed per public holiday. Absences can block benefit in limited Third Schedule cases (long sick leave beyond Citizens Information thresholds, certain lay-off or strike situations, or after the first 13 weeks of carer’s leave). Public holidays during maternity, adoptive, paternity, parent’s, parental, or domestic violence leave are protected. On lay-off, benefit generally continues for the first 13 weeks (part-timers still need the 40-hour gate where it applies).

The four options (employer chooses one)

If you qualify, OTWA s.21(1) says you are entitled to whichever one your employer determines:

(a) a paid day off on that day; (b) a paid day off within a month of that day; (c) an additional day of annual leave; or (d) an additional day’s pay.

Proviso: if the public holiday already falls on a day you would have had as a paid day off anyway, option (a) drops out. WRC guidance: if the business is closed and you would normally have worked, you get your normal day’s pay; if you work the public holiday, you are paid for the work and still get the separate public-holiday benefit.

Asking which option applies (21 / 14 days)

You may ask, not later than 21 days before the public holiday, which option applies, and the employer should notify you at least 14 days before. If the employer fails to comply with that request, OTWA deems the choice to be a paid day off on the public holiday (or, where the proviso applies, an additional day’s pay). Put the request in writing and keep a copy.

Weekends and leaving just before a holiday

If the public holiday falls on a day that is not a normal working day for the business (for example Saturday or Sunday), you still have entitlement to benefit; options (b), (c) or (d) can be used. There is no automatic legal right to take the next Monday off unless granted under those options or a more generous contract.

If employment ends during the week ending on the day before a public holiday, and you worked during the 4 weeks preceding that week, you should get an additional day’s pay for that public holiday (part-timers: also the 40-hour / 5-week rule).

The Organisation of Working Time (Determination of Pay For Holidays) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 475/1997) set the relevant rate for public holiday pay.

In outline:

• If you work or normally work on the public holiday weekday, and pay is a fixed time rate / salary / similar, the relevant rate is generally the sum paid for the normal daily hours last worked before the public holiday (including regular non-varying bonuses or allowances, excluding overtime pay).
• If you do not work on that public holiday (and are not in certain special categories), the relevant rate is often one-fifth of the sum paid for your normal weekly hours last worked before the holiday, or one-fifth of a 13-week average weekly pay where pay is not wholly on a fixed rate.

That is why a part-timer who never works Mondays still often gets a one-fifth weekly payment when a Monday public holiday arrives (once the 40-hour gate is met).

Job-sharers: S.I. 475/1997 reg.6 is separate - often one-tenth over two weeks, not the ordinary one-fifth. Check the SI / WRC / Citizens Information if you job-share.

These figures are illustrations from the rules above. They are not WRC awards.

Full-time: business closed

Illustration. Niamh works a fixed 5-day week, €17.50 per hour, 7.5 hours a day (€131.25 per normal day). Easter Monday is a day she would normally work. The shop closes. Employer chooses option (a): paid day off. Public holiday pay at the normal daily rate ≈ €131.25.

Part-time: holiday on a normal working day

Illustration. Orla works Wednesday-Friday, 6 hours on Thursdays at €15.00. Christmas Day falls on a Thursday. She cleared 42 hours in the 5 weeks ending the day before Christmas, so she qualifies. If the workplace closes: pay for the Thursday she would have worked ≈ 6 × €15 = €90. If she is required to work that day: pay for hours worked plus the separate public holiday benefit (extra day’s pay, paid time off, or leave, per the employer’s choice).

Part-time: holiday on a day you do not normally work

Illustration. Same Orla, normal weekly pay €270, never works Tuesdays. St Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday. She worked 45 hours in the 5 weeks ending the day before 17 March. She qualifies. Statutory compensation is typically one-fifth of normal weekly wage: €270 ÷ 5 = €54, even though Tuesday was never on her rota.

Working the public holiday

Illustration. Ciarán’s warehouse stays open on the October Bank Holiday. His normal daily pay last worked before the holiday is €140 (excluding overtime). He works his shift and is paid for those hours. Separately he is entitled to public holiday benefit (for example an additional day’s pay of €140, or paid time off / leave). Working the day does not wipe the benefit.

Written ask, no reply by 14 days

You email HR more than 21 days before St Brigid’s public holiday asking which of (a)-(d) applies. No reply by 14 days before. Statute deems a paid day off on the public holiday (unless the proviso points to additional day’s pay). Keep the email.

Start with a written query: which option was chosen, what daily or one-fifth rate was used, and how the 40-hour / 5-week test was applied for part-timers.

Useful evidence: contract/handbook clauses (may be more generous than OTWA, not less); rotas for the 5 weeks before each holiday; payslips; your 21-day request and any reply; clock records if you worked the day. Employers must keep working-time records under OTWA.

WRC route (Citizens Information): raise it with the employer where you can, then complain under OTWA via the WRC online form. Usual limit: 6 months from the dispute, extendable by a further 6 months for reasonable cause. Mediation may be offered; otherwise an Adjudication Officer decides. UK Employment Tribunals, ACAS, and UK Working Time Regulations are the wrong forum for OTWA public holiday benefit in the Republic.

• Treating Good Friday as a statutory public holiday (it is not).
• Telling part-timers “no hours that weekday = no benefit”, ignoring the one-fifth weekly rule once the 40-hour / 5-week gate is met.
• Missing the 40-hour count by excluding annual leave hours that Citizens Information says can count.
• Assuming double time is automatic under OTWA (the Act gives four options; premiums come from contract, ERO, SEO, or collective agreement if at all).
• Paying for hours worked on the day and then refusing the separate public holiday benefit.
• Ignoring the 21-day / 14-day request rule after a written ask.
• Confusing public holidays with annual leave (separate OTWA entitlements; an extra leave day is only one of four ways to discharge public holiday benefit).
• Assuming a weekend public holiday means an automatic Monday off (benefit yes; automatic next working day off, no).
• Using UK bank-holiday custom or ACAS pages for Irish payroll.
• Waiting past the 6-month WRC window without documenting a reason that could support the further 6-month extension.

If a public holiday looks unpaid or under-credited, list the ten Irish dates, test the 40-hour / 5-week gate if part-time, note which option was used, and check the daily or one-fifth figure against S.I. 475/1997 and your payslips.

Paye Mes Heures can help you organise hours and prepare an estimate under Irish OTWA public-holiday rules for that file. Treat any figure as a working aid against your rotas and the official texts, not as a formal WRC determination or legal advice. Cross-check with Citizens Information and the WRC public holidays pages before you escalate.

• Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, section 21 (Irish Statute Book): https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/20/section/21/enacted/en/html
• S.I. No. 475/1997 - Organisation of Working Time (Determination of Pay For Holidays) Regulations, 1997: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/si/475/made/en/print
• Citizens Information - Public holidays: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/leave-and-holidays/public-holidays/
• Workplace Relations Commission - Public Holidays: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/public-holidays/