The Christmas and New Years public holidays have special rules, and are treated differently depending on which days they fall on.

Christmas and New Years public holidays

There are 4 public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period:

• Christmas Day (December 25)

• Boxing Day (December 26)

• New Year's Day (January 1)

• January 2

When Christmas and New Years public holidays fall on weekends

If any of these holidays fall on a weekend and your employee does not normally work on the weekend, the holiday is transferred to the following Monday or Tuesday. This ensures that your employee gets their full four paid days off.

If any of these holidays fall on a weekend and your employee does normally work on the weekend, then your employee is entitled to a paid day off on that day.

When Christmas and New Years public holidays fall on weekdays

When any of these holidays fall on a weekday they get a paid day off if they would have worked. 

Christmas closedown periods

Some employers have an annual closedown period over Christmas. During the closedown, business shuts down and no one works. If a public holidays fall inside the closedown period, your employees should be paid for those public holidays if they fall on days your employees would normally have worked.  

The rules for the Christmas and New Year public holidays are set out in section 45 of the Holidays Act 2003.