Last week, I received the following question here:

  • If in a given week employees worked Monday – Friday 8 hours each day but three of those days were considered holidays which are to be paid at a rate of time and a half, would the 24 hours of recognized holiday pay be paid also at time and a half because that would give each employee a total of 64 hours worked. 24 holiday hours plus the 40 worked?

The answer will probably depend upon a few factors, & I can’t definitively answer this without more information. One logical & likely answer is “no,” you don’t get time & a half at the holiday rate because the law (FLSA) requires time & a half of your regular rate of pay. Holiday pay is usually not considered a regular pay rate, it’s a perk offered by the employer, & usually there’s no legal entitlement to pay or even the day off (in the private sector mostly). Another factor to consider is “past practice.” What has the company done in the past regarding the payment of overtime during holidays? Does overtime pay start immediately after the 4oth hour is worked, no matter what? Finally, a union contract may change things entirely.

Previous posts about this topic is here, here & here.

A 12/4/17 post on this topic, including more examples, is here. Who knew there’s so much to say about such a dry topic!