Holiday Pay

Arynne · November 2007

Okay I hope I have this right. If you offer Holiday pay to one FT ee you must offer it to all FT ee's regardless thier hire date, right?

I am just not sure why. If we can say they have to be FT 6mths to earn benefits and 1 year for vacation then why note for Holiday pay?

Thanks

Irie · November 2007

You don't have to offer holiday pay to one employee just because you offer it to another employee. Quite often employers have a waiting period before employees are eligible to draw holiday pay, just as benefits and vacation time. However, if you pay holiday pay to an employee who has qualified for holiday pay but not pay holiday pay to another person who has also qualified for holiday pay you may have a problem.

We require employees to work the scheduled work day before and after the holiday to be paid holiday pay. If they call off on either of these days they would need a doctor's excuse to be paid the holiday. Employees are also allowed to pre-arrange an absence the day before and the day after the holiday and still collect their holiday pay.

It just depends on your policy.

joannie · November 2007

Our Holiday Pay Policy specifies an employee is eligible for holiday pay once they have completed their 90 day introductory period. To be paid, they must work or be available to work the day before and the day after the holiday unless they are on approved paid time off.

Hope that helps you.

joannie

Dutch2 · November 2007

We have basically the same requirements of having to work your full scheduled work day the day before and the day after the holiday,. This prevents a lot of additional absences for "extra" long weekends and leaving early the day before the holiday. We do pay holiday pay immediatley for full-time ee's no waiting period. However, we do not pay holiday pay for part-time ee's.

Arynne · November 2007

Thank you all for your help. We do have a policy on working certain days surounding to holiday in order to be paid holiday pay, as well as a you must be FT 30 days to qualify for holiday pay. I had just read that making a waiting period, like FT 30 days, was not legal and I was a bit confussed.

Thanks again.

davids · November 2007

You might want to check your state's wage and hour laws. The "no waiting period" rule might be specific to your state.

Riva · November 2007

Sorry to hijack this post but I also have a question regarding holiday pay but in regards to shift workers. If you have shift workers, how do you work it with them? Do they get a set amount for holiday pay such as 8 hrs or do they get credit for their shift hours? Our policy is supposed to be 8 hours of holiday pay for any holiday that flows into your normal working schedule.

However the Thanksgiving holiday always puts a kink into things as we designate two days off which are Thursday and Friday. I have a department that has night shift workers (Monday-Thursday) and they always end up adjusting their schedule so that they basically get an extra day off. Granted they are working the same amount of hours in two days that my day shift workers do in three. However they only work Monday and Tuesday and have the rest of the week off whereas the day shift workers work Monday-Wednesday and have the rest of the week off. I understand the logic of this and why these managers are doing it this way but when I try to reiterate the policy, they get upset and don't want to listen. They don't understand that the Friday holiday is not a scheduled work day for the night shift employees so it technically is already a day off for them. In their minds, the employee has the right to take both of those holidays regardless of their schedule.

Anyway, I'm in the process of updating all of our policies so I'm looking for advice on verbiage - in particular with shift workers. How do you handle it? Do you require the policy of working the day before or after the holiday to be paid for the holiday? If so, how well is that received? Also how many hours do you pay for holiday pay for shift workers?

Dutch2 · November 2007

Don't know if this will work for you, but we have used it for several years.
Good luck...

In order to receive Holiday Pay, you must be scheduled to work that day. Example: if July 4th falls on a Wednesday and that is your regularly scheduled day off, you will not receive Holiday pay for this day. This is due to the fact that your weekly scheduled hours would not be shortened by the holiday closure.

To receive Holiday pay, you must work your full scheduled shift both the days immediately before and after the holiday that you are scheduled to work. If you do not work your full scheduled shift on the last day that you are scheduled to work before the holiday and your full scheduled shift the first day you are scheduled back to work after the Holiday, you will not receive Holiday pay. For example if you are ill or have an activity that prevents you from working your full shift either or both the day before and/or after the holiday, that you are schedule to work, you will not receive Holiday pay. You may elect to receive sick hours, if available, for all of the time missed due to your illness or you may elect to receive vacation pay, if available, for all of the time missed due to other reasons. If you should use illness or vacation pay for the Holiday in question, you will be paid the hours you were scheduled to work that day.

If you meet the eligibility requirements to receive Holiday pay, you will be paid Holiday pay for the number of hours you were scheduled to work on that day. For example, if you were scheduled to work 7 hours on Thursday and Thursday is a holiday, you will receive 7 hours of Holiday pay for this day. If you have any questions, please contact your Supervisor or the Human Resources Department.

Riva · November 2007

Thanks Dutch! I appreciate the information.

So with your policy, if someone took a paid leave of absence (vacation, personal, sick, medical etc.) that was scheduled around a holiday you would still pay holiday pay. Correct?

Holiday Pay

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