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Holidays
Hours worked
on holidays,
Saturdays, and Sundays are treated like hours worked on any
other day of the week. California law does not require that
an employer provide its employees with paid holidays, that it
close its business on any holiday, or that employees be given
the day off for any particular holiday. If an employer closes
its business on holidays and gives its employees time off from
work with pay, such a circumstance exists pursuant to a policy
or practice adopted by the employer, pursuant to the terms of
a collective bargaining agreement, or pursuant to the terms
of an employment agreement between the employer and employee,
as there is nothing in the law that requires such a practice.
Additionally, there is nothing in the law that mandates an employer
pay an employee a special premium for work performed on a holiday,
Saturday, or Sunday, other than the overtime premium required
for work performed in excess of eight hours in a workday or
40 hours in a workweek.
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Q-1.
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Last
week I worked eight hours on the 4th of July
holiday, which fell on Wednesday. For the whole
week I worked
40 hours. When I got my paycheck this week I was
paid for 40 hours at my straight time
rate. Aren’t I entitled to extra pay, of at
least double time, for working on a holiday? |
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Ans.
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There
is nothing in state law that mandates an employer pay
an employee a special premium for work performed on holidays,
Saturdays, or Sundays, other than the overtime premium
required for work in excess of eight hours in a workday
or 40 hours in a workweek. Unless your employer has a
policy or practice of paying a premium rate for working
on a holiday, or you are subject to a collective bargaining
or employment agreement that contains such a term, your
employer is only required to pay you your regular rate
of pay for all the straight time hours worked on the holiday,
and the overtime premium required for work in excess of
eight hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek. Since
you did not work over eight hours on the holiday, or more
than 40 hours during the workweek, you were paid correctly. |
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Q-2.
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My
employer is open for business on every holiday, some of
which I have to work. Isn’t this against the law? |
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Ans.
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No.
There is nothing in state law that mandates that an employer
must close its business on any particular day, if at all.
It is up to your employer to select which days, if any,
it chooses to be open and closed for business, and if
your employer is open on a holiday and schedules you to
work that day, there is nothing in the law that obligates
your employer to pay you anything but your regular pay
and any overtime premium for all overtime hours worked. |
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Q-3.
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Last
week we were closed for business on Monday to celebrate
Memorial Day. Consequently, I worked Tuesday through Saturday
that week, eight hours each day. When I got my paycheck
this week I was paid
for 48 hours last week at my straight time rate. Shouldn’t
eight of those hours be paid at time and one-half,
the overtime rate, since I was paid for more than 40 hours
in the workweek? |
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Ans.
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No,
you were paid correctly. In this situation, even though
you did not work on the holiday your employer chose to
pay you for it, which it has the absolute right and discretion
to do. However, the determination of whether overtime
pay is due is based upon hours
worked, more than eight in a workday or more than
40 in a workweek, and not upon pay received. Thus, since
you did not work more than eight hours in any one workday,
or more than 40 hours in the workweek, you are not entitled
to any overtime pay for the workweek. |
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Q-4.
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We
get 11 holidays off each year without pay. My sister gets
the same 11 holidays off, and she gets paid for
all of them. Is my employer breaking the law because he’s
not paying us for these holidays when he’s required
to, even though we don’t work on any of them? |
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Ans.
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No,
your employer is not breaking the law. There is nothing
in state law that mandates that employees be paid for
holidays that are not worked. |
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