{"id":3246,"date":"2023-10-31T14:26:36","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T13:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gjgroep.nl\/nieuws\/public-holidays-what-about-continued-payment-of-wages\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T11:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T09:47:15","slug":"public-holidays-what-about-continued-payment-of-wages","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/gjgroep.nl\/en\/nieuws\/werkgevers\/public-holidays-what-about-continued-payment-of-wages\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Holidays: What About Continued Payment of Wages?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public Holidays: What About Continued Payment of Wages?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As soon as spring arrives, the public holidays follow suit. We move from Easter to King’s Day, from Liberation Day to Ascension Day, and conclude at the end of May with Whit Monday. Every year, the Service Desk receives many questions regarding the continued payment of wages for employees or the remuneration of flexible workers<\/a> who continue to work. It is a period each year that places more pressure on payroll administration<\/a>. Time off is wonderful, but what are the rules regarding wage payments on public holidays? <\/p>\n

What Actually Constitutes a Public Holiday?<\/h3>\n

In the General Term Act, a number of days are designated as generally recognised public holidays: New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, both Christmas days, Ascension Day, the day on which the King’s birthday is celebrated, and 5 May. However, the fact that these days are included in the law has few consequences. An employee cannot derive any further rights from this. The law does not yet say anything about mandatory time off on these days. Nevertheless, there are rules that you as an employer must comply with. This is because conditions have been agreed upon in most collective labour agreements (CAOs). How does this work in the temporary agency CAO? <\/p>\n

The NBBU CAO<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to the NBBU CAO, the following days are public holidays: New Year’s Day, King’s Day, 5 May in a lustrum year, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, Ascension Day, and both Christmas days.<\/p>\n

What if No Work is Performed?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If no work is performed on a public holiday mentioned in the NBBU CAO, this can mean two things:<\/p>\n

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  1. The public holiday is paid out from the temporary worker’s individual reservation. This only applies to temporary workers with a temporary employment contract including an agency clause. In that case, a percentage is reserved for public holidays. This is an individual reservation from which the public holiday can be paid. In this regard, no more can ever be paid out than what has been accrued in the reservation. <\/li>\n
  2. Wages are continued to be paid if the conditions are met (the conditions are discussed below). This applies to temporary workers with a temporary employment contract without an agency clause. As a temporary employment agency, you may choose to apply these rules to temporary workers with a temporary employment contract including an agency clause as well, instead of the individual reservation in cash. This choice can only be made for the entire calendar year and applies to all temporary workers. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Situation one is clear. Most questions received by the Service Desk therefore concern the second situation: What are the conditions for the continued payment of wages on a public holiday and how much must I pay? <\/p>\n

    The temporary worker or payroller<\/a> is entitled to continued payment of the actual wage on public holidays on which no work is performed due to that holiday. This essentially involves the following conditions: <\/p>\n

    No work is performed because it is a public holiday<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    For example, no work is performed due to a public holiday if the client where the flexible worker is employed is closed on the holiday or only uses minimal staffing. If work at the hirer continues as normal on the public holiday, this condition is not met. <\/p>\n

    The temporary worker would normally have worked<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    If no work is performed on the public holiday, it must be determined whether the day is normally a working day for the temporary worker. If the temporary worker has a fixed scope of work with fixed days, this is clear. If one of the fixed days falls on the public holiday, the temporary worker is entitled to continued payment of wages. If the scope of work is not clearly established, the \u201cseven out of thirteen\u201d rule applies. If the temporary worker has worked seven times on the day the public holiday now falls during the preceding thirteen weeks, then this is considered a normal working day. If the temporary worker started less than thirteen weeks prior to the public holiday, it is considered a normal working day if the temporary worker worked on that day for more than half of the weeks. <\/p>\n

    Suppose the day is considered a normal working day; how many hours is the temporary worker entitled to? For this, you take the average of all paid hours on the days worked. Suppose you need to determine whether the temporary worker is entitled to continued payment of wages on Whit Monday. Whit Monday falls on a Monday. The temporary worker has worked on Monday nine times in the past thirteen weeks. You then take the average of all paid hours on Monday in those nine weeks. Overtime is excluded from this, unless the temporary worker structurally works overtime on that day. <\/p>\n

    Points for attention:<\/strong><\/p>\n