Per diem employees do get holiday pay in some situations, but not because federal law requires it. The Fair Labor Standards Act treats holidays as ordinary workdays, so whether you receive a premium rate or a paid day off depends on your employer’s written policy, any union contract covering your position, whether you work under a federal service contract, and the handful of state laws that mandate holiday premium pay.
Federal Law Does Not Require Holiday Pay
The FLSA, the main federal wage-and-hour statute, says nothing about holidays. The Department of Labor puts it directly: the FLSA “does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays (federal or otherwise)” and calls these benefits “generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee.”1U.S. Department of Labor. Holiday Pay
Federal law also does not require overtime “for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, as such.”2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 – Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA The only federal overtime trigger is passing 40 hours in a workweek. Work ten hours on Christmas but only thirty hours that week, and federal law entitles you to nothing beyond your usual rate. Cross 40 for the week and you get time and a half on every hour over, whether or not a holiday was involved.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours
For most per diem workers in the private sector, that ends the federal analysis. What comes next depends on the paperwork.
Employer Policies and Union Contracts
Because federal law is silent, most per diem holiday pay comes from whatever the employer chooses to offer. Hospitals and hospitality employers often use holiday premiums to fill shifts that permanent staff decline. A per diem nurse earning $40 per hour might see $60 per hour on Thanksgiving if the facility’s policy pays time and a half for holidays. Those rates are usually spelled out in the offer letter, the employee handbook, or a per diem rate schedule handed out at onboarding.
When you review your paperwork, look for terms like “differential pay,” “holiday premium,” or “shift incentive.” Some employers require a probationary period before per diem staff qualify. If your agreement does not explicitly mention holiday pay for per diem positions, the safe assumption is that you receive your standard rate. Employers can also change these policies going forward unless the premium is locked into a binding contract, so a benefit paid last year is not guaranteed this year.
Union contracts are different. Collective bargaining agreements often include holiday pay provisions covering all bargaining-unit employees, including per diem staff, and they are enforceable in a way a unilateral employer policy is not. If you are in a union, the CBA is the first document to read. Without a union or a written contract, you depend entirely on the employer’s current discretion.
Per Diem Workers on Federal Service Contracts
The clearest federal exception applies to per diem employees working for contractors covered by the Service Contract Act. Most SCA wage determinations require the contractor to provide a minimum of 12 paid holidays a year, including New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, among others.4SAM.gov. Wage Determinations – Service Contract Act WD 2023-0202
Per diem and part-time workers on these contracts get proportional holiday benefits. The proportion is based on the hours you worked in the week before the holiday week. If a full-time employee gets 8 hours of holiday pay and your typical shift is 5 hours, you are entitled to 5 hours of holiday pay.5U.S. Department of Labor. SCA Compliance Principles The eligibility rule is that you must have worked some hours during the workweek in which the holiday falls. If you did not work at all that week, you generally have no claim to the benefit unless you were on paid leave or the contractor laid you off specifically to avoid paying it.6eCFR. 29 CFR 4.174 – Meeting Requirements for Holiday Fringe Benefits
If you actually work on the holiday, the contractor must pay your regular wages for the day plus a full day’s pay (up to 8 hours) as the holiday benefit, or give you a paid substitute day off. Contractors cannot impose a new-hire waiting period or a “work the day before and day after” rule unless the wage determination itself includes those conditions, and any unpaid holiday benefits owed at termination must be paid out in cash.6eCFR. 29 CFR 4.174 – Meeting Requirements for Holiday Fringe Benefits
States That Require Holiday Premium Pay
Most states follow the federal approach and impose no holiday pay obligation on private employers. Rhode Island is the clearest exception. State law requires work performed on Sundays and 10 named holidays to be paid at no less than one and a half times the employee’s normal rate.7Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws Title 25 Chapter 25-3 Section 25-3-3 The covered holidays are:
- New Year’s Day
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day
- Victory Day
- Labor Day
- Columbus Day
- Veterans Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
Rhode Island law also protects workers from retaliation for declining Sunday or holiday work. An employer cannot fire or discipline you for refusing a holiday assignment, which matters for per diem workers whose “punishment” would otherwise take the form of fewer future shifts. Manufacturers running continuous seven-day operations are exempt from the refusal-to-work protection, but they still owe the premium rate.7Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws Title 25 Chapter 25-3 Section 25-3-3
Massachusetts used to require retail employers to pay a Sunday and holiday premium under its blue laws. That requirement was fully phased out as of January 1, 2023.8Mass.gov. Working on Sundays and Holidays – Blue Laws Retail employers in Massachusetts still owe standard weekly overtime past 40 hours, but no separate holiday premium.
Beyond these, very few states impose broad holiday premium requirements on private employers. Most that address the issue do so only for specific industries or through narrow Sunday-closing rules. Check your state labor department’s website for the exact scope where you work.
How Holiday Premium Pay Affects Your Overtime
When an employer voluntarily pays a holiday premium, it interacts with the 40-hour overtime rule in ways worth knowing about if you pick up extra shifts around holidays.
If the premium rate is at least time and a half, the extra compensation can be excluded from your “regular rate” and credited toward any overtime the employer already owes you that week.9eCFR. 29 CFR Part 778 Subpart C – Payments That May Be Excluded From the Regular Rate Practically, an employer paying you 1.5x on a holiday is not double-paying overtime on the same hours.
If the premium is less than time and a half, it gets folded into your regular rate and cannot offset overtime.10eCFR. 29 CFR 778.203 – Premium Pay for Work on Saturdays, Sundays, and Other Special Days A modest holiday bump, say $5 per hour, raises the regular rate for the whole week, which in turn raises your overtime rate. The result is that a small holiday premium can actually increase your overtime pay rather than replace it.
If You Were Not Paid What You Are Owed
If holiday pay was promised in writing and did not appear on your check, or if you work in a state or on a federal contract that requires it, you have places to go. For SCA violations, file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. For state-mandated premiums like Rhode Island’s, contact your state department of labor. If the holiday pay was part of a written employment contract or a CBA that your employer stopped honoring, that is a breach-of-contract claim you can pursue in state court or, if you are unionized, through the grievance process.
Keep copies of your hiring agreement, any handbook provisions on holiday pay, your time records, and your pay stubs. Wage claims are far easier to win when you can show exactly what was promised and exactly what was paid.