Easter – working hours, extras and pay

Shops can stay open every day of the year. Employees in the commercial sector may be assigned shifts on all days of Easter. However, public holidays will reduce working hours either in the annual leave system or the weekday public holiday system. All workplaces must use one of these systems.

The annual leave system

In the annual leave system, annual weekday public holidays are calculated into the annual time off. Employees accrue annual leave entitlement based on the hours worked. The granting of annual leave is not bound to for example public holidays. For more information on the annual leave system, see here.

The weekday public holiday system

The employer may choose to use the weekday public holiday system instead of the annual leave system either in the company as a whole or in parts of it. The weekday public holidays that shorten working hours during Easter are Good Friday and Easter Monday.

The employee is entitled to the weekday public holiday reduction if the employment has lasted at least one month before the weekday public holiday in question.

The working hours of full-time employees will be reduced by one day or 7,5 hours for each public holiday that falls on a weekday (8 hours in the 40-hour system). The reduction of working hours will be carried out by granting a day off either:

• during the week of the weekly public holiday
• during the two preceding weeks
• during the two following weeks or
• in the adjustment system.

Part-time employees (working less than 37.5 h per week) receive the reduction for the week of the weekday public holiday either as paid leave during the reduction period or as cash compensation in addition to the salary for any hours worked. The compensation must be included in the salary for the reduction period. The cash compensation or the reduction of working hours is calculated by dividing the number of weekly hours agreed in the employment contract by five.

The working hours of clerical workers in the adjustment system must be agreed locally at the workplace, as specified in section 23 of the collective agreement.

If Saturday is normally a day off for the employee, it will also be a free day during the week of a weekday public holiday.

Days off on public holiday eves

A permanent employee in the commerce sector must be given two of these public holiday eves as days off:

• Easter Saturday
• Midsummer’s Eve
• Christmas Eve
• New Year’s Eve

The employer can compensate holiday eve leave in the form of a 100% increase to the pay rate for regular working hours scheduled for such days.

The employer and employee can agree to a one time exeption.

Salary for work and working hour bonuses

If the shop is open late on Holy Thursday (also called Maundy Thursday), a salary bonus for public holiday eves, equivalent to the Saturday bonus, must be paid to sales persons for any work done after 18.00.

A 100% salary increase will be paid for work done on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. For saleswork the evening bonuses (between 18.00 and midnight) will be paid at the normal rate. Logistics workers are paid the evening (between 18.00 and 22.00) and night bonuses (between 22.00 and midnight) at double rate.

See working hour bonuses in wage annex 1 June 2023 – 31 January 2025

Annual leave

In this sector, work can be scheduled for all days of the year. The sector has no separately defined weekday public holidays.

In the annual leave system, annual weekday public holidays are calculated into the annual time off. By completing hours of work, employees accrue annual leave entitlement which is not bound to public holidays. This means that the annual leave does not have to, but may, be taken on public holidays. Read more about the annual leave system here.

Salary for work on public holiday eves and public holidays

If an employee works on Easter Saturday after 15.00, the basic salary as well as the evening bonus and the supplement to the representative of a licence holder will be paid with a 50% increase.

Work on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday will be compensated with a 100% increase to the basic pay as well as the evening and night supplements and the supplement paid to the representative of a licence holder.

Free Saturdays

According to the collective agreement, Holy Saturday must be a day off (as is the Saturday after Ascension Day and May Day). However, if the company provides continuous service, such as hotel housekeeping, shifts may be assigned for this day.

If an employee works on Holy Saturday, their salary for the day will be increased by 50%.
However, this salary increase will not be paid in unbroken three-shift work.

Weekday public holiday

Easter’s weekday public holidays are Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Monthly salaried workers
get their normal monthly salary if they get a day off on a midweek public holiday, that according to the shift list would have been a workday.

Hourly-paid employees
will receive a weekday public holiday compensation if

• the employment has lasted for three months or more before the public holiday in question
• and if the public holiday would have been a working day according to the working schedule, and the employee would have been entitled to a salary for that day.

If the workplace has adopted average weekly working hours, the employer can give the midweek public holiday as a day off, if there is no work available. For such a day, the worker gets midweek holiday compensation. But weekday public holidays will not be considered work time when the overall working hours are counted for the period.

The amount of the public holiday compensation

1 If the employee’s regular working hours are 37.5 hours per week, the weekday public holiday bonus will be equivalent to 7.5 hours of pay.

2 If the employee’s regular working hours are 40 hours per week, the weekday public holiday bonus will be equivalent to 8 hours of pay.

3 If the employee’s regular working hours are less than 37.5 hours per week, the weekday public holiday bonus will be calculated to be proportionate to the working hours.

• If the employee works a constant number of hours per week ->
  The weekday public holiday bonus is calculated by dividing the number of weekly working hours by five.
• If the employee works a varying number of hours per week ->
  The weekday public holiday bonus will be calculated by dividing the working hours of the quarter by 63. However, the number of working days missed due to annual leave, sickness or the sickness of a child will be deducted from the 63.

Example:
The employee has worked 216 hours during the quarter year. S/he has been sick four working day and a week on annual holiday (6 holiday days). The annual holiday is calculated so:
63-4-5 = 54 (divider)
216/54 = 4
The worker is paid public holiday compensation for 4 hours.

The amount of the compensation is based on the average hourly earnings.

Salary for working on a weekday public holiday

If the employee works during weekday public holidays, their salary for such days will be increased 100%. A separate weekday public holiday compensation will not be paid for these working hours. However, if the hours worked on a weekday public holiday are fewer than normal, they get the compensation for the missed working hours.

Example:
An employee normally works 7.5 hours a day five days a week. On a weekday public holiday s/he works four hours and gets the salary for 4 hours increased by 100% and in addition weekday public holiday compensation for 3.5 hours. So in this case the compensation is paid for the difference in normal working hours and the actual working hours, that is the number of hours  they didn’t have work.  

In private security, shifts may be assigned to employees for all the days of Easter.

Monthly-paid employees are under the annual leave system. In the system, the annual weekday public holidays are counted into the annual days off. The employees accrue days of leave based on completed working hours. These days of leave are not bound to the dates of public holidays.

The annual leave system only applies to employees on a monthly salary. In the system 13.25 hours of leave is accrued per calendar month. This means that during the year, they accrue 17 shifts’ worth of leave, assuming that a shift is 8 hours. More information on the annual leave system can be found here (in Finnish).

Part-time employees get paid time off (max. 8 hours) if they work on Easter Monday. The time off earned is entered into the work schedule for the period during which the time off will be taken. The salary for the time off will be paid as weekday public holiday compensation according to the average hourly earnings (keskituntiansio KTA).

Salary for work done during the weekday public holiday itself will be paid normally, with the exceptions listed below.

Salary

• Work done on Holy Saturday after midnight will be compensated with a 50% Sunday increase.
• Work done on Good Friday and Easter Monday – as on any day listed as a public holiday – will be compensated with a 100% salary increase.

Days that reduce the working hours

During Easter, the days that reduce working hours are Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Days that reduce working hours mean public holidays during which work time is reduced without reduction in salary.

The employee and employer may also agree that a cash compensation is paid instead of shortening work hours.

The condition for the reduction of working hours (public holiday reduction) is that the employment relationship has lasted for at least one month before the public holiday.

When will the reduction be implemented?

The reduction of working hours will be granted during the work period which includes the day that is the reason for the reduction. This means that the reduction does not have to be granted on the day of the public holiday in question.

How is the reduction implemented?

For full-time employees, the reduction is 7.5 hours per day that reduces working hours.
The reduction is carried out by providing an equivalent amount of uninterrupted leave. If this is impossible, the working hours during the period in question will be reduced in another way.

The employer and employee can also agree that a cash compensation is to be paid separately for each weekday public holiday instead of a reduction to the working hours.

For part-time employees, the working hours are reduced by the number of hours calculated by dividing the average number of weekly working hours by five.

If the working hours per period vary greatly, the average weekly hours will be calculated on the basis of the 12 preceding calendar weeks.

Example:
A part-time employee has agreed to work 25 hours per week.
The reduction to the working hours is calculated as follows: 25 hours / 5 = 5 hours
The working hours of this employee are reduced by 5 hours during the week of the weekday public holiday without reducing the salary, or a cash compensation amounting to 5 hours of work can be paid.

Working on public holidays

If an employee works on Good Friday or Easter Monday, their salary will be increased by 100%. Any evening and night supplements will also be doubled.