How to Calculate Holiday Pay Entitlement

New business owners coming into their first holiday season might wish to reward employees with an extra pay bonus. In general, holiday pay is equivalent to overtime pay. The standard most companies observe is to pay employees one and a half times the amount of normal hourly pay. For salaried employees, companies typically divide the salary by forty-nine to fifty weeks, at forty hours per week. Holiday pay can be paid to both full time and part-time employees.

Instructions

1. Calculate the employee's hourly rate of pay. For instance, a salaried employee earning $30,000 per year would be earning $15.31 per hour or $612.40 per week over forty-nine weeks.

2. Figure the holiday pay hourly rate. Using the above example, an employee earning $30,000 per year earns an hourly rate of $15.31. Multiply $15.31 by 15 percent to arrive at the sum of $22.97.

3. Multiply the holiday pay by the number of hours the employee works over the holiday. If an employee works eight hours on a holiday such as Thanksgiving, New Years Day or the Fourth of July, the employee would earn $22.97 per hour for eight hours or $183.76.

References

• University of Montana: Holiday Pay Situations
• Entrepreneur: Guidelines on Overtime, Holiday Pay and Paid Days Off