Holiday Pay Calculator

How it works

When an employer pays a holiday premium, each hour worked on the holiday is your normal rate times the premium multiplier:

With the defaults, 8 hours at $25 with a 1.5 multiplier is $37.50 an hour, or $300 for the day. The exact premium depends on your employer, since holiday pay is generally a matter of policy rather than law.

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A worked example: 8 holiday hours at $25 an hour

Working an eight-hour shift on a paid holiday, at a base rate of $25.00/hr with a 1.5× premium, is worth stopping to calculate. That premium bumps your rate to $37.50/hr for the day, so the eight hours pay out at $300.

The math is quick once you see the pieces. Your regular $25.00/hr becomes $37.50 after the 1.5 multiplier, and multiplied by 8 hours that is the full $300, roughly a day and a half of normal pay packed into one shift.

How much the holiday is worth depends on the multiplier your employer sets. At time and a half the shift pays $300, but a double-time 2× policy would push the same eight hours to $400, a difference of $100 for identical work. Drop in your own rate, hours, and multiplier to see what a holiday shift is really worth to you.

Holiday pay is usually optional

In the US there is no federal requirement to pay extra for working a holiday, so premiums come from company policy or union contracts. Some employers pay time and a half or double time, others pay a normal rate plus a separate holiday bonus, and some pay nothing extra at all. Your handbook is the place to confirm what applies.

Worked holiday versus a paid day off

Holiday pay covers two quite different situations that are easy to mix up. This calculator handles the first: hours you actually work on a holiday, paid at a premium. The second is a paid day off, where you are paid your normal rate for a holiday you do not work at all.

• Working the holiday. You clock in and earn a premium rate, if your employer offers one. That is the case the multiplier here is built for.
• A paid holiday off. Many salaried and full-time roles simply pay your usual rate for the day while the workplace is closed, with no extra and no work.
• Neither is guaranteed. US federal law requires neither a worked-holiday premium nor paid holidays off, so both come down to your employer’s policy or a union contract.
• Some blend the two. A generous employer might pay your normal rate for the holiday and a premium on top for hours you work it, so read the policy rather than assuming.

When holiday hours also hit overtime

A holiday premium and overtime are separate ideas, and in a busy week you can brush up against both. Sorting out how they interact keeps you from expecting pay that is not there, or missing pay that is.

• Overtime counts worked hours. The weekly overtime threshold is generally about hours actually worked. Hours you were paid for a holiday but did not work usually do not count toward it.
• A holiday off can hide overtime. If a paid day off fills part of the week, you may not reach 40 worked hours even though the check looks like a full week, so no overtime is triggered.
• Premiums can stack. If you actually work the holiday and also cross the weekly overtime line through hours worked, both can apply, though the exact interaction depends on your employer’s rules.
• Policy can be kinder than law. Some employers voluntarily count paid holiday hours toward overtime, so check whether yours is one of them before assuming they do not.

A worked example

Say your rate is $20 and you work an eight-hour holiday shift at time and a half. Each hour pays $30, so the day brings in $240 against the $160 those hours would earn normally. The extra $80 is the premium for giving up your holiday.

Compare that with a coworker who gets the same holiday as a paid day off. They earn their normal $160 equivalent for the day without working, while you earn $240 for working it. Neither outcome is set by law: your $30 rate exists only because your employer chose to pay a premium, and their paid day off exists only because the policy grants one.

Some workplaces offer both a paid holiday and a premium for those who work it, some offer just one, and some offer neither. Change the multiplier to match your own policy and the day’s total moves with it.

Which holidays employers commonly pay

There is no legal list of paid holidays for private employers, so the set varies by workplace. Still, a familiar group of days tends to show up in most policies, and knowing them helps you read your own.

• The common core. Days like New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas appear in many US holiday policies, whether as paid days off or as premium days for those who work.
• Floating holidays. Some employers add one or two floating days you can use when you choose, which helps if your own important dates are not on the standard list.
• All optional. Because none of this is required by federal law, the exact days, the premium, and whether you are paid when closed all come down to policy or a union contract.
• Regional and personal days. Beyond the core, some workplaces observe local or faith-based holidays, and floating days let workers cover the ones their employer does not.