Section 70
Holidays
(1)
Every employee shall be entitled to a paid holiday at his gross rate of pay on every public holiday that falls during the time that he is employed:
Provided that —
(a)
by agreement between the employer and the employee, any other day or days may be substituted for any one or more public holidays;
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(b)
if any public holiday falls on a rest day, the working day next following that rest day shall be a paid holiday; and
(c)
if any public holiday falls on a day when the employee is not required to work under his contract of service, the employer may either pay the employee for that holiday at his gross rate of pay or give the employee a day off in substitution for that holiday.
(2)
Notwithstanding subsection (1), no employee shall be entitled to holiday pay for any public holiday which falls on a day when the employee is on leave of absence without pay granted by the employer at the request of the employee.
(3)
An employee who absents himself from work on the working day immediately preceding or immediately succeeding a public holiday or on any day substituted therefor under subsection (1), without the prior approval of his employer or without reasonable excuse, shall not be entitled to any holiday pay for that public holiday.
(4)
Notwithstanding subsection (1), any employee may be required by his employer to work on any holiday to which he would otherwise be entitled under that subsection, and in such event he shall be paid an extra day’s salary at the basic rate of pay for one day’s work, in addition to the gross rate of pay for that day and to a travelling allowance, if payable to him under the contract of service with his employer, for one day.
(5)
No employee shall be entitled under subsection (4) to receive double any housing allowance or food allowance.
(6)
Subsection (4) does not apply to an employee who is employed in the public service or in any of the essential services as defined in section 3(3) of the Internal Security Act (Chapter 133) for the purposes of that section, but any such employee may, notwithstanding subsection (1), be required by his employer to work on a holiday or part thereof to which he would otherwise be certified under that subsection, and in any such case he shall be given a day or part of a day off, as the case may be, in substitution for the holiday or part thereof.
(7)
For the purposes of this section, if any public holiday falls on a half working day, the gross or basic rate of pay payable shall be that of a full working day.
Employment
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