Do You Get Holiday Pay? What Federal Law Requires (and What It Doesn’t)

With the holidays coming, many workers ask whether they are owed extra for working Thanksgiving or Christmas. Under federal law, the answer is usually no, which makes your company’s policy and your own negotiating more important.

What the federal rule says

The Department of Labor states that the FLSA “does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays (federal or otherwise). These benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee” (DOL: Holiday Pay).

What does still apply on a holiday

• If you are non-exempt, every hour worked over 40 in the workweek must be paid at time-and-a-half, holiday or not.
• Minimum wage rules apply as usual.
• If you have an employment contract or union contract with holiday pay terms, those are enforceable under the contract.

Holiday premiums can change the overtime math

Some employers pay extra for holiday work. Under 29 CFR 778.203, premium pay for work on holidays can be excluded from the regular rate and credited toward overtime owed, if it is at least time-and-a-half the normal rate for like work. So a holiday premium sometimes replaces overtime rather than stacking on top of it.

The same rule covers premium pay for Saturdays, Sundays, regular days of rest and the sixth or seventh day of the workweek. But if the premium is less than time-and-a-half, the regulation says the extra pay must be included in your regular rate and can’t be credited toward overtime due. That can raise the overtime you’re owed for the week.

How to negotiate holiday pay

• Ask for the written holiday policy before accepting a job.
• If you’re asked to work a holiday, ask whether premium pay or a floating holiday is available.
• If you’re a top performer in a hard-to-staff role, holiday coverage is real leverage.

Published October 27, 2026. Sources are linked in the text.

Header image: original graphic by JobPayRaise.com.