Public Holiday Entitlements

Public holiday entitlements

The provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 and the arrangements which apply in the public health service regarding public holiday entitlements can be quite complex, particularly for those who are employed in a temporary/part-time or job-sharing capacity. 

Nurses and midwives employed in the public health service who work a '5 over 7' roster receive additional annual leave in lieu of their liability to work on public holidays, i.e. ten days in the case of full-time nurses/midwives and five days in the case of job-sharing nurses. 

They also receive double pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are required to work. This, in effect, gives them treble time in respect of public holidays worked, while the legal minimum is double time. 

Public holidays Q&A

  • Prior to the introduction of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, job-sharers were entitled to half of the ten public holidays. In effect, this meant that whenever a public holiday fell on a job sharer's week off, they would not receive any benefit for that public holiday. Job-sharing staff who were scheduled to work on a week in which a public holiday fell were, and still are, entitled to:

    •  a paid day off on the holiday itself; or 
    • a paid day off within a month; or 
    • an extra day's annual leave; or 
    • an extra day's pay 

    The provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, however, improve public holidays  for some but not all job-sharers.

    Under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, job-sharers who work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split week or similar arrangement, are entitled to an additional one-tenth of a fortnight's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are not scheduled to work. 

    The Act does not provide any additional benefit to job-sharers who work shifts because they already receive more than the legal minimum requirement. 

    The additional benefit, therefore, applies only to those job-sharing nurses who: 

    Work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split weeks or similar arrangements. 

    The additional benefit does not apply to those job-sharing nurses who: 

    Work a '5 over 7' roster (seven day week) because they already receive more than the legal minimum requirement, i.e. they receive an additional five days annual leave in lieu of their liability to work public holidays; 

    They receive single-time extra (i.e. an additional day's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are scheduled to work. 

    Job-sharing nurses who work a half-day on/half-day off arrangement do not receive an additional benefit under the Act - they continue to receive one-tenth of a fortnight's pay for each of the ten public holidays. 

  • Under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 an employee is entitled to any one of the following alternatives as decided by the employer: 

    • a paid day off on the holiday itself; or 
    • a paid day off within a month; or 
    • an extra day's annual leave; or 
    • an extra day's pay

    Payment in respect of a public holiday includes any regular bonus or allowance normally paid to the employee but excludes payment for overtime. 

    The above entitlements are the legal minimum which can be exceeded by agreement with employers. In the case of the public health service, the existing agreement exceeds the legal minimum. 

  • There are ten public holidays as follows:

    First of January 
    • First Monday in February, or 1 February if the date falls on a Friday (St Brigid's Day) 
    • St Patrick's Day 
    • Easter Monday 
    • First Monday in May 
    • First Monday in June 
    • First Monday in August 
    • Last Monday in October 
    • Christmas Day 
    • St Stephen's Day

  • Employees, other than those employed on a part-time/casual basis, have an immediate entitlement to public holiday benefits.  Part-time/casual employees qualify for public holiday entitlement provided they have worked at least 40 hours in the five weeks ending on the day before a public holiday. 

    The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 provides statutory minimum entitlements for all employees to holidays and public holidays (except members of An Garda Síochána and Defence Forces).    

    From 2023 there will be a new permanent public holiday established in celebration of Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day. This will be the first Monday in every February, except where St. Brigid’s Day, the first day of February, happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday 1 February will be a public holiday. 

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    Catherine Hopkins

    Information Officer

    INMO HQ, Dublin

    Catherine O'Connor

    Information Officer

    INMO HQ, Dublin

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