With August 17 designated as a substitute holiday, there is growing interest in the criteria for holiday work pay.
According to the Labor Standards Act, businesses with five or more regular employees must provide substitute holidays as paid leave. Therefore, employees who work on the substitute holiday of August 17 are entitled to additional pay for holiday work on top of their regular wages.
The key factor in calculating this pay is the number of hours worked. For shifts of up to eight hours, employees receive 150% of their regular wage, while any hours worked beyond eight are compensated at 200% of the regular wage.
For salaried employees, their base salary already includes pay for paid holidays, so they receive additional pay (0.5 to 1 times their wage) for actual hours worked. In contrast, hourly or daily workers, including part-time employees, should receive a combination of paid holiday pay (100%), wages for hours worked (100%), and holiday premium pay (50%), resulting in a total of 250% of their normal hourly wage.
However, not all workplaces are required to pay the 150% rate. For businesses with fewer than five regular employees, the Labor Standards Act does not mandate holiday premium pay, meaning that employees may only receive their basic wage (100%) for hours worked on the substitute holiday without any legal repercussions.
Additionally, it is important to verify whether the company has legally implemented a 'holiday substitution' system. If an agreement has been made in writing with employee representatives to designate another weekday as a paid holiday instead of the substitute holiday, working on August 17 will be considered a regular workday, and no additional holiday premium pay will be applicable.
Labor experts advise, "Before working on a substitute holiday, employees should understand their workplace size, wage structure, and whether their company has an agreement on holiday substitution to avoid issues like wage arrears."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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