Managing public holidays during paid leave is a complex subject that raises many questions for employees and employers alike. It’s not always easy to understand the rules and principles governing this situation. Fortunately, the law guarantees equal treatment for employees on vacation compared with those who have not taken leave at the time of the holiday.
What impact does this have on vacation entitlement ?
When a public holiday falls at the same time as an employee’s paid leave, no day off is counted on the public holiday. This means that the employee benefits from an additional day of rest, without affecting the paid vacation balance. This practice preserves employees’ rights and ensures that they are not penalized by the public holiday calendar.
However, if this public holiday is usually worked in the company, the situation may be different. This is particularly true for some public holidays. In this case, the holiday can be counted as a normal day off, unless the employment contract or collective agreement provides for more favorable arrangements.
Vacation entitlements may be calculated in working days or in business days, depending on company practices. This distinction normally has no impact on the way public holidays are taken into account when calculating vacation entitlement.
Practical aspects for employees
We recommend that you check your employment contract and company agreements for the specific rules in force. Some companies have more advantageous policies than the legal basis. For example, in some companies, some days are considered an additional day off, equivalent to a public holiday.
If a public holiday falls on a day that is not usually worked, such as a Saturday or Sunday, it will generally have no impact on the calculation of leave, except for Saturday in the case of counting in working days.
The legislative framework for public holidays
The legislative framework governing public holidays is defined by the Labor Code. This establishes a list of statutory public holidays, some of which, such as May 1st, are compulsory.
For other public holidays, the Labor Code stipulates that they can be decided by company agreement or, failing that, by the employer. This flexibility enables companies to adapt their operations to the specific features of their business sector.
With regard to public holidays during absences, legislation does not provide specific rules, leaving room for interpretation and company agreements. However, the general principle is that employees should not be disadvantaged by the occurrence of a public holiday during their vacation.
This is why, in practice, many companies choose not to deduct public holidays that fall during their employees’ paid leave, thereby de facto extending the period of leave.
Employee rights and obligations
An employee’s rights and obligations are closely linked to legal and contractual provisions. Employees are entitled to paid vacations, without being penalized by the occurrence of a public holiday.
This means that if a public holiday falls during the employee’s vacation, it should not be counted as a day off. In this way, the employee can benefit from an extra day’s rest, or have his or her vacation extended by one day.
In return, the employee is obliged to respect the rules laid down by the employer concerning the taking of leave and the treatment of public holidays. In particular, they must inform their employer of their leave dates well in advance, and follow internal procedures for validating their leave. The employer has a certain amount of time to process each absence request. This whole process can be managed very simply in My Intranet HRIS, our absence management software.
If a public holiday falls on the day before annual leave or on the day of the employee’s return to work, the employee must ensure that he fully understands the employer’s expectations regarding his presence at work, especially if the holiday is not usually a day off in the company.
Concrete examples and case studies
To illustrate the application of the rules concerning public holidays during vacation, let’s look at a few concrete examples. Let’s imagine an employee who takes a week’s leave from Monday to Friday, and a public holiday falls on the Wednesday of that week. If the public holiday is usually taken on company time, the employee will only be deducted 4 days’ vacation instead of 5. On the other hand, if the public holiday is normally worked, all 5 days will be deducted, unless the company has a more favorable arrangement.
In another case, if an employee takes two weeks’ leave and a public holiday falls on Monday, the first day of leave, the question arises as to whether this day should be considered as the start of leave or as a separate public holiday. The most common practice is to consider that leave actually starts on Tuesday, thus enabling the employee to benefit from his two weeks’ leave in addition to the public holiday. These examples illustrate the importance of clear communication between employer and employee on these issues.
Common questions and myths
There are many questions and myths surrounding public holidays. A frequent question concerns the case where a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday during the leave period: in this case, it generally has no deduction on the calculation of leave, as these days are already considered as weekly rest days, particularly in the case of working days. My Intranet HRIS handles this case perfectly when calculating the impact of vacations.
Another common myth is that all public holidays are automatically off and paid, which is not the case. May 1st is the only compulsory paid day off for all employees, with some exceptions.
Another common question concerns the possibility of working on a public holiday while on leave. In principle, an employee on vacation cannot be called back to work, even on a public holiday, except in exceptional circumstances provided for in the employment contract.
The rules governing public holidays during vacation periods may vary according to collective and company agreements. To avoid any misunderstandings, employees are advised to find out what specific provisions apply in their company.
