Holiday Pay Calculator

How this calculator works

Holiday pay for hours worked is the hourly rate times the hours worked on the holiday times the multiplier. A 2× multiplier means each holiday hour pays twice the straight-time rate in total, not the straight-time rate plus two more times that rate.

The extra versus straight time is the same hours at the rate times the multiplier minus 1, which is the part of the pay that comes from the holiday premium alone.

Paid-holiday hours are for pay you receive for a holiday you did not work. The calculator pays them at the straight hourly rate and adds them to the holiday total. If you enter hours here and also work the holiday, both amounts are added, which matches an employer who pays holiday pay in addition to wages for hours worked.

The calculator adds the other hours you enter to the holiday hours you worked to show your hours worked for the week and how many exceed 40. Paid-holiday hours are not counted, because hours paid but not worked are not hours worked for FLSA overtime.

It does not calculate weekly overtime. Whether a holiday premium can be credited toward overtime owed depends on the premium rate and the reason it is paid, which the notes and the section below explain with citations.

US holiday pay or UK holiday pay?

This tool is for US pay: what an hourly worker earns for working on a holiday, and what an employer may pay for a holiday the worker does not work. In the UK, “holiday pay” usually means pay during statutory annual leave, which is a different subject. If you are in the UK, the government’s guidance on holiday entitlement is at gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights, and nothing on this page applies to UK leave rights.

What US law does and does not require

The Department of Labor states that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays, federal or otherwise. These benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee or the employee’s representative. In practice, that means a private-sector employer generally does not have to give you a paid day off on Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July under the FLSA, and does not have to pay extra for working one.

The same applies to premium pay for working a holiday. The FLSA sets overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, but it does not itself require time and a half or double time for holiday hours. If you are paid 1.5× or 2× on a holiday, that comes from your employer’s policy, an employment agreement, or a union contract. Read the policy or contract for the exact multiplier, which holidays count, whether you must work the day before and after to qualify, and whether the premium applies to every hour or only up to a limit.

The Department of Labor also notes two exceptions tied to government contracts. On contracts covered by the Service Contract Act, holiday and vacation fringe benefit requirements are stated in the contract’s wage determination. On Davis-Bacon contracts, holiday pay is required for specific classifications only if the wage determination says so. State law and local rules may add other requirements, so check your state labor department or your employer if the answer matters to you. This page does not list state rules.

How holiday pay interacts with overtime

Two federal rules matter when holiday work and overtime fall in the same week. The first concerns holiday premium for hours you work. Under 29 CFR § 778.203, extra pay at a premium rate of at least time and one-half for work on holidays, weekends, or other special days may be treated as an overtime premium. In that case it can be left out of the regular rate and credited toward overtime owed. If the premium rate is less than time and one-half, the extra pay must be included when determining the regular rate and cannot be credited toward statutory overtime due. The rule also says that a “holiday” is a day customarily observed in the community, not a day of rest an employer grants because of a lack of work.

The second concerns pay for a holiday you do not work. Under 29 CFR § 778.218, payments for occasional periods when the employee is not at work due to a holiday, where the payment approximates normal earnings for a similar period, are not compensation for hours of employment. They may be excluded from the regular rate, and no part of them may be credited toward overtime owed. This is why the calculator leaves paid-holiday hours out of weekly hours worked.

Section 778.219 gives a Department of Labor example. An employee paid $12 an hour is entitled under contract to 8 hours of pay for Christmas, forgoes the holiday, and works 9 hours that day, for 50 hours in the week. The employee is paid $600 straight time for 50 hours plus $96 idle holiday pay. The employee is still owed $60 as an overtime premium (half time) for the 10 hours over 40, because the $96 holiday pay cannot be credited toward the overtime owed.

These rules turn on how a payment is structured and why it is paid, so this calculator does not turn them into a weekly overtime formula. It shows hours worked for the week and flags hours above 40, and leaves the overtime calculation to your payroll provider or the Overtime Pay Calculator. Overtime coverage and exemptions are separate questions from holiday pay.

Holiday pay arrangements and how they are treated

The table summarizes the arrangements the calculator supports and what the cited sources say about each. It is not a list of what employers typically pay, because the Department of Labor does not publish one and pay practices vary by employer, industry, and contract.

OPM’s federal premium applies to employees covered by the holiday and premium pay provisions of title 5, United States Code, and has exceptions for some employee groups. See the OPM fact sheet for details. Reviewed October 2, 2026.

Salaried employees and holiday pay

A salary does not change the starting point: the FLSA does not require pay for holidays, and holiday treatment is a matter of agreement between you and your employer. If you are paid a salary and want to check what a holiday hour is worth, convert the salary to an hourly rate with the Salary to Hourly Calculator and enter that rate here. Whether you are covered by overtime rules at all depends on your job duties and pay, which this tool cannot decide. Your employer’s policy states whether salaried employees get holiday premium pay, a paid day off, or a day of time off in exchange.

Common questions