It’s a legitimate question, if you ask us. The period with extra days off due to public holidays is coming up. Think of Easter, Pentecost, Ascension Day, and King’s Day for those who usually work on weekends. It’s great to have those extra-long weekends, but the big question is: do you, as a temp worker, get paid for public holidays?
The answer is:
YES! In principle, temp workers get paid for public holidays. However, there are some exceptions. For instance, if you’ve only recently started working for an employer, you’ll get only a portion of your daily wage. This is because an average is taken from the last thirteen weeks worked. Initially, you’ll be paid proportionally for public holidays.
How is this calculated?
We look at how many hours you worked on that day in the past period. If you don’t work on the public holiday, we need to determine whether that day is normally a workday for you as a temp worker. If you have a fixed working schedule with fixed days, it’s clear. If one of the fixed days falls on a public holiday, you’re entitled to payment of your regular wage. If the working schedule is not clearly defined, the “seven out of thirteen” rule applies. If you’ve worked on that day for seven times in the thirteen weeks preceding the public holiday, it’s considered a normal working day. If you started working less than thirteen weeks before the public holiday, it’s considered a normal working day if you worked more than half of the weeks on that day.
Suppose the day is considered a normal working day, how many hours are you entitled to? To determine this, you take the average of all paid hours on the days you worked. For instance, you need to determine whether you’re entitled to pay on Whit Monday. Whit Monday falls on a Monday, and you’ve worked on Mondays nine times in the last thirteen weeks. Then you take the average of all paid hours on Mondays in those nine weeks. Overtime is excluded, unless you work overtime regularly on that day.
Furthermore, if you never work on Mondays, you won’t get paid for public holidays such as Easter Monday and Whit Monday (which always fall on a Monday). You’ll only get paid for holidays that fall on days on which you normally work, and have been working for a while.
In short: if you’ve been working full-time for a while, you’ll get paid for public holidays based on your regular working hours. And if, for example, you work four hours every Monday, you’ll get paid for four hours on a public holiday that falls on a Monday.
If you entitled to it, how can you see this on your payslip?
You will see on your payslip in the area where the hours ar show the following text: “Continued payment FD/KV” and on front of it the average worked hours that you got payed. Beware that this is taxed as overtime (tax office rule).
