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With the holidays approaching, many business owners must juggle their and their employee’s holiday celebrations and carrying on business operations. As part of this balancing, it is important employers understand their obligations to employees.

Are you required to offer paid holidays?

If you are a private employer, it is entirely up to you whether you offer paid holidays, with an exception for religious holidays. In some cases, a employers refusal to allow an employee to be absent to participate in a religious holiday may be considered religious discrimination. If the holiday is religious, the employer may provide reasonable accommodations such as an alternative schedule or allowing the employee to take paid time off. However, absent these circumstances, there is no hardline rule requiring private employers to offer paid holidays.

Although you are not required to offer paid holidays, it is important to consider other factors when determining whether they should be offered such as company culture, employee well-being, and specific business or customer needs.

Are employers required to pay overtime to employees who work on a holiday?

It is common practice in some industries to offer overtime pay to employees who work on holidays. Although this is a great incentive for employees to work when there are business needs that need to be met on the holiday, employers are not required to pay overtime to an employee only because the hours occurred on a holiday. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime rates must only be paid for time employees work over full time, and therefore if the employee is not actually working overtime, the employer is not required to pay at a higher rate.

The attorneys at Simpson, Jensen, Abels, Fisher & Bouslog, P.C. are experienced in handling complex employment issues. Contact us at (515) 288-5000 to discuss your questions about employment issues during the holidays.

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