Special Non-Working Holiday Pay in the Philippines
A complete legal guide and computation primer (updated to June 2025)
1. What is a “special non-working holiday”?
Under the Labor Code and numerous special laws or presidential proclamations, Philippine holidays are grouped into three classes:
| Class | Pay rule headline |
|---|---|
| Regular holiday | Paid even if not worked (Art. 94, “holiday pay”) |
| Special non-working holiday | “No work, no pay,” but +30 % premium if worked |
| Special working holiday | Treated as an ordinary workday (no premium) |
A special non-working day may be created by (a) statute (e.g., Ninoy Aquino Day – 21 Aug, RA 9256; Feast of the Immaculate Conception – 08 Dec, RA 10966) or (b) an annual presidential proclamation that fixes the following year’s holiday calendar (issued pursuant to Administrative Code §26).
2. Statutory and regulatory foundations
Constitution, Art. III, §3 (right to just compensation)
Labor Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 442)
- Art. 93 [Work on Rest Days & Special Days] – premium pay rules
- Art. 95 [Right to Service Incentive Leave] – interaction if SIL is converted to cash
Handbook on Workers’ Statutory Monetary Benefits (DOLE, latest ed. 2024)
DOLE Labor Advisories (issued every year to echo the President’s holiday list and spell out the exact pay rules and sample formulas)
RA 9256, RA 9492, RA 10966, RA 11190, RA 11480, etc. – create specific special non-working days
Civil Service Rules – note: government personnel follow separate DBM/CSC circulars, but the premium percentages are the same
3. Coverage and exemptions
| Covered | Excluded |
|---|---|
| Rank-and-file employees in the private sector, paid either monthly or daily, unless expressly exempt | — Government employees (follow CSC, DBM) — Managerial employees (Art. 82) — Field personnel & family drivers (Art. 82) — Retail/Service establishments regularly employing < 10 workers (exempt from premium pay) — Domestic helpers (Kasambahay) – covered instead by RA 10361 special rules |
4. The core pay rules
| Situation | How much is payable for the first 8 hours? |
|---|---|
| Did not work | No work, no pay ⟶ employee gets 0 % of Daily Wage (DW) unless CBA, company policy, or past practice is more favorable. |
| Worked | 130 % of DW (DW × 1.30). |
| Worked & it is also the employee’s scheduled rest day | 150 % of DW (DW × 1.50). |
Overtime on a special non-working day
- Hours in excess of 8: add +30 % of the hourly rate applicable on that day. – Example: If the day rate is DW × 1.30, OT hour = DW/8 × 1.30 × 1.30 = DW/8 × 1.69 (169 %). – If also a rest day: hourly OT = DW/8 × 1.50 × 1.30 = DW/8 × 1.95 (195 %).
5. Monthly-paid vs Daily-paid employees
| Monthly-paid | Daily-paid |
|---|---|
| Receive the same salary every month covering all 365/366 calendar days. The employer may lawfully deduct a day’s equivalent if the employee is absent on a special non-working day without leave credits, because the legal rule is still “no work, no pay.” Best practice: spell out in the company handbook whether the monthly rate is “deemed inclusive” of special days worked/not worked. |
Paid only for days actually worked and deemed present. Apply the formulas in §4 strictly. |
6. Step-by-step computation formulas
Let:
- DW = Applicable daily wage (basic wage + COLA, if the regional wage order defines COLA as part of the wage for premium pay purposes).
- HR = DW ÷ 8 (hourly rate).
| Scenario | Formula |
|---|---|
| 1. No work | Pay = 0 (unless company grants 100 % as goodwill). |
| 2. Worked (not rest day) | Pay = DW × 1.30 |
| 3. Worked + rest day | Pay = DW × 1.50 |
| 4. OT on #2 | OT = HR × 1.30 × 1.30 × No. of OT hours = HR × 1.69 × hrs |
| 5. OT on #3 | OT = HR × 1.50 × 1.30 × No. of OT hours = HR × 1.95 × hrs |
Night shift differential (NSD). If any work hours fall between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., add an extra +10 % of the hourly rate after applying the special-day premium. Example: on Scenario #2, NSD hour pay = HR × 1.30 × 1.10 = HR × 1.43.
7. Illustrative computation
Employee A (daily-paid), NCR minimum wage of PHP 610.00, works 10 hours on a special non-working day that is also her rest day.
- Base for first 8 hrs 610 × 1.50 = PHP 915.00
- OT premium (2 hrs) Hourly = 610/8 = 76.25 OT hour = 76.25 × 1.95 = 148.69 2 hrs = 297.38
- Total for the day = 915.00 + 297.38 = PHP 1,212.38
Add NSD, if applicable, after step 2.
8. Interaction with service incentive leave & “forced leave”
- If the employer announces a shutdown and compels employees not to work on a special non-working day, the employee may charge the day to available Service Incentive Leave (SIL) to avoid pay loss, subject to Art. 95 rules.
- If SIL is exhausted, the day becomes leave without pay unless there is a more favorable benefit.
9. Non-diminution & CBA supremacy
Where a company has long granted 100 % pay even if no work on special non-working days, that benefit has ripened into a company practice and cannot be unilaterally withdrawn (Art. 100). CBAs or company policies that fix higher rates (e.g., 160 % for work, 50 % pay if not worked) are controlling.
10. Employer obligations & sanctions
- Pay correctly and on time (Art. 102) – normally on the next regular payday unless the company sets a separate payroll cut-off for holiday premiums.
- Maintain payroll records (Art. 109) – show computation details.
- Administrative fines and possible criminal liability (Art. 303) for willful refusal to pay statutory monetary benefits.
- Civil money claims may be filed by the employee with the DOLE Regional Office under the Single-Entry Approach (SEnA) or NLRC.
11. Recent developments (2023 – 2025 snapshot)
- Presidential Proclamation 453-A (29 Dec 2024) declared Eid’l Adha 2025 as a regular holiday, not special; thus the premium rules differ. Always check each year’s proclamation because the classification can change.
- DOLE’s Labor Advisory No. 02-25 (05 Jan 2025) reiterated that 24 December and 31 December remain special working days for 2025 (ordinary workday rules), continuing the policy first adopted in 2021.
- Several regions (e.g., Region VII Wage Order ROVII-25) now explicitly fold the Cost-of-Living Allowance into “basic wage”; employers must recompute DW before applying the 30 % / 50 % multipliers.
12. Frequently-asked questions
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Can an employer offset attendance bonuses against special-day premiums? | No. Statutory monetary benefits are non-waivable. |
| Is premium pay due if the employee is on maternity leave and a special day occurs? | No; SSS benefit covers the period, and there is no work performed. |
| Does “compressed workweek” (CWW) affect the formulas? | No. The legal day-equivalent wage (DW) is merely re-computed as Monthly Salary ÷ 22.75 (workdays) but the multipliers stay the same. |
| Are Work-From-Home staff entitled? | Yes, if they are employees and actually perform work on the special non-working day. Location of work is immaterial. |
13. Key take-aways
- “No work, no pay” remains the default for special non-working days, but +30 % (or +50 % if also rest day) applies once work is rendered.
- Use DW × 1.30 / 1.50 for the first 8 hours, then layer OT (× 1.30) and NSD (× 1.10) in that order for excess or night hours.
- Check yearly presidential proclamations: the holiday label (regular vs special non-working vs special working) drives the multiplier.
- Company practice, CBA, or better local ordinances can only increase, never reduce, the statutory minimums.
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