1) Governing rules and why “part-time” is not a disqualifier

Holiday pay in the private sector is primarily governed by the Labor Code’s holiday pay provision (commonly cited as Article 94, as amended) and its implementing rules (Omnibus Rules), as applied and explained in DOLE issuances and labor standards enforcement practice.

A worker’s label as “part-time” does not automatically remove statutory benefits. If the dental clinic staff member is an employee (not an independent contractor), they are generally covered by labor standards—subject to specific statutory exclusions and establishment-based exemptions discussed below. In most clinic settings, receptionists, dental assistants, aides, clerks, cleaners/janitors directly hired by the clinic, and similar staff are employees.

2) Who is covered: employee status matters more than job title

A. Covered in general

Holiday pay rules generally apply to rank-and-file private sector employees, regardless of whether they are:

full-time or part-time,
probationary or regular,
paid daily, hourly, or monthly,
fixed schedule or shifting schedule,

as long as they are not excluded/exempt under the law.

B. Common exclusions (not entitled to statutory holiday pay)

The most common categories excluded from holiday pay coverage include:

Government employees (covered by a different compensation system),
Managerial employees (as defined by law),
Certain officers or members of a managerial staff (depending on actual functions and criteria),
Field personnel and certain workers who are unsupervised and whose actual hours cannot be determined with reasonable certainty (fact-specific),
Domestic helpers/kasambahays (covered by the Kasambahay law, not the Labor Code holiday pay scheme),
Some workers paid purely by results in ways recognized as excluded by implementing rules (highly fact-dependent; many “paid by output” workers are still protected if the employer exercises control and minimum standards apply).

In a typical dental clinic, most staff are not in these excluded categories.

C. Employee vs independent contractor (a frequent clinic issue)

Some clinics engage “on-call” workers and describe them as “contractors.” Holiday pay depends on the real relationship, not the label. Indicators of employment include the clinic’s right to control:

work schedules and attendance,
clinic protocols and methods,
supervision and discipline,
exclusivity/continued engagement,
provision of tools/supplies and integration into clinic operations.

If a staff member is truly an independent contractor (controls how the work is done, invoices per project, bears business risk), holiday pay under labor standards typically does not apply.

3) Types of holidays and why classification changes the pay rules

Philippine practice divides public days off into categories that carry different pay consequences:

A. Regular Holidays (Labor Code holiday pay applies)

These are holidays where eligible employees generally receive 100% of their daily wage even if they do not work, and higher rates if they do work.

Regular holidays are established by law. The commonly recognized regular holidays include:

New Year’s Day (January 1)
Maundy Thursday
Good Friday
Araw ng Kagitingan
Labor Day (May 1)
Independence Day (June 12)
National Heroes Day (commonly observed on the last Monday of August)
Bonifacio Day (November 30)
Christmas Day (December 25)
Rizal Day (December 30)
Eid’l Fitr (date varies)
Eid’l Adha (date varies)

Exact dates, moved observance rules, and additional declarations may vary by year through proclamations, especially for variable-date holidays.

B. Special Non-Working Days (different rule: usually “no work, no pay”)

For special non-working days, the default rule in the private sector is commonly:

If no work: no pay, unless the employer’s policy, practice, or CBA provides otherwise
If work is performed: the employee receives a premium (discussed in computations)

Special days are often declared annually (e.g., certain commemorations, additional year-end days, local holidays). Because this category changes most often, it is best treated as a classification question first (regular vs special) before computing pay.

C. Special Working Days / additional working holidays

Sometimes a proclamation designates a day as a “special working day.” These are generally treated as ordinary working days for pay purposes unless a company policy grants a premium.

D. Local special days

A city/municipality may have a local holiday applicable only within that locality; pay treatment usually follows the day’s classification (often special non-working) for that area.

4) Core entitlements: what “holiday pay” means

A. Regular holiday pay (the hallmark benefit)

For an eligible employee:

Unworked regular holiday: paid 100% of the employee’s regular daily wage
Worked regular holiday: paid 200% of the regular daily wage for the first 8 hours (or its hourly equivalent)
Regular holiday + rest day: paid an additional premium on top of holiday pay (commonly resulting in 260% of the daily rate for the first 8 hours)

B. Special non-working day pay (not “holiday pay” in the same sense)

For special non-working days, the common minimum standards are:

Unworked special day: generally no pay (unless policy/practice/CBA says otherwise)
Worked special day: commonly 130% of the daily rate for the first 8 hours
Special day + rest day (worked): commonly 150% of the daily rate for the first 8 hours

5) The biggest clinic-specific issue: the “10 or fewer workers” exemption for retail/service establishments

A crucial, often overlooked rule: retail and service establishments regularly employing 10 workers or fewer are generally exempt from the Labor Code’s regular holiday pay requirement.

A. Does a dental clinic count as a “service establishment”?

A dental clinic is typically a service-oriented business. In labor standards practice, clinics are often treated as service establishments, but classification can be fact-sensitive (structure, integration with a larger enterprise, staffing pattern, registration, etc.).

B. “Regularly employing 10 workers or fewer”

This turns on actual operations—how many workers are regularly employed, not just how many are on duty per shift. Factors that may matter:

whether workers are on the payroll (including part-time),
whether workers are employed through an agency,
whether there are multiple branches under the same employer,
whether the headcount fluctuates and what is “regular” over time.

C. What does exemption practically mean?

If the clinic is covered by the exemption, the statutory requirement to pay regular holiday pay may not apply. In that case, pay on holidays depends largely on:

contract terms,
company policy/practice,
CBA (if any),
and any applicable special laws/issuances.

Because this exemption can drastically change obligations, many wage disputes in small clinics turn on headcount and classification.

6) Part-time schedules: when a part-time employee is paid for a holiday

Even when holiday pay applies, part-time arrangements raise two recurring questions:

A. If the holiday falls on a day the part-timer is not scheduled to work

For employees who work only certain days per week, practice often treats holiday pay as due when the holiday falls on the employee’s scheduled workday (because there is a “daily wage” to replace). If the holiday falls on a day the employee is not scheduled (no workday/no wage expectation), many employers do not pay—unless:

the employment contract says otherwise,
there is a company policy/practice of paying anyway,
or the employee is treated as monthly-paid where holidays are already included.

This is a common gray area in disputes; the safer compliance approach is to define schedules clearly and apply consistent payroll rules.

B. Eligibility conditions tied to attendance

For regular holidays, implementing rules commonly require that the employee is:

present or on leave with pay on the workday immediately preceding the holiday, to be entitled to holiday pay, unless the employee works on the holiday.

Key patterns:

If the employee is absent without pay on the workday immediately preceding the holiday, the employer may deny holiday pay.
For Monday holidays, the “workday immediately preceding” depends on the employee’s schedule (e.g., Friday for a 5-day schedule; Saturday for a 6-day schedule).

C. Successive regular holidays

Where there are two consecutive regular holidays (e.g., in Holy Week), special eligibility rules commonly apply. A frequent rule applied in payroll practice is that an absence without pay immediately before the first holiday may affect entitlement to both, unless the employee works on the first holiday—fact-specific and schedule-dependent.

7) How to compute holiday pay for part-time dental clinic staff

Holiday pay is based on basic wage (not including allowances and most premiums). For part-time/hourly workers, computations are usually done in hourly equivalents.

A. Determine the “regular daily wage” for a part-timer

If paid hourly and the clinic defines a normal daily schedule for that employee:

Daily wage = hourly rate × normal hours per workday

Example: ₱120/hour, 4 hours/day → daily wage = ₱480.

If the employee’s hours vary, employers commonly compute based on:

the scheduled hours for that day, or
an average daily wage method used consistently and fairly (especially for irregular schedules).

B. Regular holiday rates (typical minimum standards)

Assuming the clinic is not exempt and the employee is eligible:

Unworked regular holiday

Pay = 100% of daily wage (or the wage corresponding to the scheduled hours that day)

Example: 4-hour part-timer, ₱120/hour → daily wage ₱480 → holiday pay ₱480.

Worked regular holiday

Pay for hours worked = 200% of hourly rate (equivalent to 200% of daily wage if the employee works the full normal day)

Example: works 4 hours on a regular holiday: ₱120/hour × 200% = ₱240/hour holiday rate → 4 hours = ₱960.

Regular holiday that is also the employee’s rest day (worked)

Common rule yields 260% of the daily rate (or hourly equivalent) for the first 8 hours.

For hourly equivalent: Holiday-rest-day hourly rate = hourly rate × 260% (for hours worked on that day).

C. Special non-working day rates (typical minimum standards)

If the day is a special non-working day:

Unworked special day

Generally no pay, unless policy/practice/CBA grants pay.

Worked special day

Pay for hours worked = 130% of hourly rate

Example: ₱120/hour × 130% = ₱156/hour.

Special day that is also rest day (worked)

Pay for hours worked = 150% of hourly rate

D. Overtime on holidays

If the clinic requires work beyond 8 hours (less common in dental clinics, but possible in extended operations), the typical rule is:

Overtime premium = +30% of the hourly rate on that day’s hourly rate (i.e., computed on the already-premium holiday/rest-day rate).

For part-time workers who normally work fewer than 8 hours, overtime rules can become fact-specific: the key question is whether the additional hours exceed the normal daily hours or exceed 8 hours, and how the employer defines the normal working day in the employment arrangement.

E. Night shift differential (if applicable)

If the clinic operates at night (e.g., late shifts) and work falls within night shift hours, night shift differential may apply on top of holiday premiums, based on implementing rules.

F. “Double holiday” (two regular holidays on the same day)

When two regular holidays fall on the same calendar day, payroll practice typically applies a higher base:

If unworked: commonly 200% of daily wage
If worked: commonly 300% of daily wage (or hourly equivalent)

This situation is uncommon but legally recognized in wage computation practice.

8) Monthly-paid vs daily-paid: why some staff see “no extra pay” on holidays

Some clinic staff are paid a monthly salary designed to include payment for:

all calendar days in the month, including rest days and regular holidays (often called “monthly-paid” in labor standards discussions).

For such employees:

Regular holiday pay may already be included in the monthly salary.
If they work on a regular holiday, they typically receive additional premium pay (often the additional 100% to reach the 200% standard for worked regular holidays, depending on how the monthly rate is structured).

Part-time staff are usually hourly/daily-paid, so holidays tend to appear as explicit line items—unless the employer uses a blended monthly arrangement.

9) Agency-hired dental clinic staff (outsourced manpower)

If a clinic obtains staff through a legitimate contractor/agency:

the agency is typically the direct employer responsible for holiday pay compliance,
but the clinic (principal) can face solidary liability in certain labor standards violations, depending on the nature of the contracting arrangement and legal findings.

This matters in disputes where the clinic says “not our employee” but exercises strong control over the worker’s schedule and duties.

10) Documentation and compliance practices for clinics

To avoid disputes and to support proper computation, clinics should maintain:

clear written work schedules for part-time staff (days and hours),
time records (daily time record or equivalent),
payroll records showing the holiday’s classification (regular vs special),
written policies on whether special non-working days are paid when unworked.

Part-time arrangements benefit from clarity on:

the employee’s designated rest day (if any),
whether the employee has fixed workdays or is “as needed,”
how pay is computed when holidays fall on unscheduled days.

11) Remedies when holiday pay is underpaid or withheld

Holiday pay issues are money claims and labor standards matters. Common enforcement/remedy paths include:

DOLE labor standards assistance/enforcement (inspection-anchored mechanisms where applicable),
Single Entry Approach (SEnA) for mandatory conciliation-mediation prior to formal adjudication (in many cases),
NLRC money claims processes depending on the nature of claims and employer-employee relationship issues.

Outcomes may include:

payment of wage differentials,
corrections in payroll practice,
and other labor standards compliance directives, depending on findings.

12) Practical clinic examples (part-time)

Example 1: Regular holiday, part-time scheduled to work, clinic not exempt

Rate: ₱120/hour
Schedule: 4 hours/day, Mondays and Wednesdays
Holiday: Regular holiday falls on Monday
Employee does not work (clinic closed), employee was present the prior scheduled workday

Pay:

Unworked regular holiday pay = 100% × (₱120 × 4) = ₱480

Example 2: Regular holiday worked

Same facts, but employee works 4 hours on the holiday:

Pay:

200% × (₱120 × 4) = ₱960

Example 3: Special non-working day, no work

Special non-working day falls on employee’s scheduled workday; employee does not work:

Pay:

Default = ₱0 (unless clinic policy/practice grants pay)

Example 4: Special non-working day worked

Works 4 hours:

Pay:

130% × ₱120 × 4 = ₱624

13) Key takeaways

Part-time dental clinic staff who are employees are generally covered by holiday pay rules unless an exclusion applies.
Correct pay depends first on holiday classification (regular vs special) and second on whether the clinic is exempt as a retail/service establishment employing 10 or fewer workers.
For eligible employees, regular holidays typically mean pay even if unworked; special non-working days are typically “no work, no pay” unless a policy provides otherwise.
For part-time/hourly staff, computations are usually done by converting entitlements into hourly equivalents based on their normal scheduled hours.