# Company holiday calendar template

> The dates the company is closed, regional lists and working on a holiday. A complete policy to adapt with your own rules.

Category: Policies

Canonical: https://shuffl.ai/templates/company-holiday-calendar

**A starting point, not legal advice. Leave, pay and expense rules differ by country, state and city. Use the checks on this page to see what to look up where your people work, and have someone qualified review your policy before you publish it.**

## When to use it

A holiday calendar lists the days the company is closed, by region, and what happens if someone works on one.

Publish it once a year so “are we open that day?” has one answer.

## Company holidays [year]

Words in [square brackets] are for you to fill in. The policy has every section a real handbook policy has, but no allowances, dates or amounts of its own.

```markdown
# Company holidays [year]

## Purpose
This page lists the days the company is closed, so nobody has to ask whether we are open.

## Company holidays for [year]
Time off on these days is not taken from your paid time off allowance.

| Date | Holiday |
| --- | --- |
| [date] | [holiday name] |
| [date] | [holiday name] |
| [date] | [holiday name] |

## Who this covers
[Which employees get these days, and how part-time employees are treated when a holiday falls on a day they do not work.]

## Regional differences
[Whether offices or countries observe different days, and where each list is kept.]

## Floating holidays
[Whether you can swap a listed day for another day that matters to you, for example a religious or cultural holiday, and how to ask.]

## Working on a holiday
[What happens if someone needs to work on a listed day, for example extra pay or a day off in lieu, and who agrees it.]

## Where local law differs
If the law where you work gives you more paid holidays or holiday pay, the law applies. These places have their own rules: [list them, or "none"].

## Related policies
Paid time off.

## About this policy
Owned by [team or person]. Applies in [countries or states]. We may update this policy and will tell you at least [number] days before a change takes effect. This policy is not part of your employment contract.

## Questions
Contact [team or person] at [email or channel].
```

## Check before you publish

Rules that often catch teams out, by place. They are not part of the policy, and not legal advice.

- United States: Private employers do not have to give paid holidays, but a premium you promise for working one must be paid as written, and overtime rules still apply to hourly staff.
- United States: Employees can ask to take a different day off for religious reasons. Title VII requires a reasonable accommodation unless it would cause undue hardship.
- United Kingdom: Bank holidays can count toward the 5.6 weeks of statutory leave, so say whether yours do. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different bank holidays from England and Wales.
- Everywhere: Many countries, for example Mexico and Brazil, make public holidays paid days off by law, with extra pay for working them. Keep one list per country.

## How to adapt it

- Keep one list per country or office if their days differ.
- Offer a floating holiday so people can mark days that matter to them.
- Say what extra pay or time off someone gets for working on a holiday.

## Public holidays in numbers

- **81%** of US private industry workers had access to paid holidays in March 2026 [bls-ebs-2026]
- **11** US federal holidays in 2026, set for federal employees by law [opm-federal-holidays]
- **8 vs 10** bank holidays in 2026: England and Wales had 8, Scotland and Northern Ireland 10 each [gov-uk-bank-holidays]

## What the research says

Paid holidays are one of the most common benefits in the US. In March 2026, 81% of private industry workers had access to paid holidays, the same share as had paid sick leave.[bls-ebs-2026] Which days are given is up to each employer. The 11 federal holidays are a common starting point, but they apply by law only to federal employees.[opm-federal-holidays]

Holidays differ within one country too. In 2026, England and Wales had 8 bank holidays and Scotland and Northern Ireland had 10 each, including St Andrew’s Day in Scotland and St Patrick’s Day and the Battle of the Boyne in Northern Ireland.[gov-uk-bank-holidays] A company with several locations needs a calendar for each, or a clear rule for who follows which.

## What the law requires

US federal law doesn’t require private employers to give paid holidays or extra pay for working one. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require pay for time not worked, including federal or other holidays.[dol-vacation] For federal employees, a Saturday holiday is observed on the Friday before, and a Sunday one on the Monday after.[opm-federal-holidays]

In the UK, bank holidays don’t have to be paid leave. Employers can count them in the 5.6 weeks of statutory paid holiday, or give them on top.[gov-uk-holiday-entitlement] When a bank holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday, normally the following Monday, becomes the bank holiday.[gov-uk-bank-holidays] Other countries set public holidays nationally, so check each country you employ in.

## Common mistakes

- Publishing one list for everyone, when people in different countries or UK nations have different bank holidays.
- Not saying what happens when a holiday falls on a weekend, or on a part-time employee’s day off.
- Leaving out what extra pay or time in lieu people get if they have to work on a holiday.
- Publishing the calendar too late for people to book travel around it.

## Common questions

**Do private companies have to give federal holidays off?**
No. US federal holidays apply by law to federal employees, and the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require private employers to pay for holidays. Most companies choose their own list, often based on the federal one.

**Are UK bank holidays paid?**
There’s no automatic right to paid bank holidays. Employers can include them in the 5.6 weeks of statutory paid holiday or give them on top. Check the contract and say which applies in the calendar.

**What happens when a holiday falls on a weekend?**
In the UK a substitute weekday, usually the following Monday, becomes the bank holiday. US federal employees get the Friday before a Saturday holiday and the Monday after a Sunday one. Private employers set their own rule, so put it in the calendar.

## Sources (read 2026-10-13)

- [bls-ebs-2026] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Benefits in the United States Summary” (September 25, 2026 (March 2026 data)): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.nr0.htm
- [opm-federal-holidays] U.S. Office of Personnel Management, “Federal Holidays” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/
- [gov-uk-bank-holidays] GOV.UK, “UK bank holidays” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
- [dol-vacation] U.S. Department of Labor, “Vacation Leave” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave
- [gov-uk-holiday-entitlement] GOV.UK, “Holiday entitlement” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights

## In Shuffl

Use in Shuffl: [Knowledge draft](https://shuffl.ai/app/knowledge?template=company-holidays). Opens a Knowledge draft with this policy, its checks and what Shuffl already knows, like your HR contact and countries. Draft with Mello can write the rest and show where each value came from. Nothing is published until you choose Publish.

Guide: [Add a policy to Knowledge](https://shuffl.ai/docs/knowledge#add)

## Related terms

- [Paid time off](https://shuffl.ai/glossary/paid-time-off)
- [Employee handbook](https://shuffl.ai/glossary/employee-handbook)

All templates: https://shuffl.ai/templates

Agent documentation index: https://shuffl.ai/llms.txt