SA Wages Pro

Public Holiday Pay

3 min read — Updated September 2026

The Rules

South Africa has 12 public holidays per year. Under the BCEA:

  • If the public holiday falls on a day the employee would normally work, they get the day off with normal pay.
  • If they work on a public holiday that is one of their normal working days, they get the greater of double the day's wage, or the day's wage plus what they earned for the hours worked.
  • If they work on a public holiday that is not one of their normal working days, they get the day's wage plus what they earned for the hours worked.
  • If the public holiday falls on a day the employee doesn't normally work and they don't work, there is no additional pay obligation.

South African Public Holidays

The 12 official public holidays are: New Year's Day (1 Jan), Human Rights Day (21 Mar), Good Friday, Family Day, Freedom Day (27 Apr), Workers' Day (1 May), Youth Day (16 Jun), National Women's Day (9 Aug), Heritage Day (24 Sep), Day of Reconciliation (16 Dec), Christmas Day (25 Dec), and Day of Goodwill (26 Dec).

When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the public holiday. SA Wages Pro tracks this automatically.

How It Works in SA Wages Pro

Mark the day type as a public holiday on the timesheet and record any hours worked. SA Wages Pro applies the right one of the four rules above and shows it as its own payslip line. Public holidays are also factored into the days-worked calculation so you don't accidentally count them twice.

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