# Public/Bank Holidays. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546 "2004-12-01T19:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/1 "2004-12-01T19:05:34Z")
What do the main doper-countries get on average, as far as Bank Holidays are concerned? England gets 8 Bank Holidays per year. The average Holiday allowance I’d say is 20 days. That equals 28 days (not including the two days off every week). The Isle of Man gets 10 Bank Holidays (England’s 8 plus Tynwald day and Senior Race Day) plus an average 20 day allowance from employers. What about USA, AUS, Euro, Far-east, Mid-east etc… dopers? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/2 "2004-12-01T19:07:47Z")
P.S. I’m not sure what Wales, Scotland, and Northenr Ireland get. I believe they do differ from England. (ROI counts as ‘Euro’ in the OP) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/3 "2004-12-01T19:14:40Z")
Depending on the state, Germans have up to 13 public holidays per year (although most of them are defined not as a particular day of the week, but as a specified day, and thus can happen to fall on Sunday, when most people don’t work anyway). Additionally full-time employees get at least 24 days allowance a year, which is legally binding. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/4 "2004-12-01T20:09:15Z")
There are some [22 federal holidays](http://www.opm.gov/fedhol/2004.asp) in the US, and some states may have their own holidays in addition to that. Private employers vary by how many holidays they have. Where I work we get 12 holidays plus 10 days of vacation plus some number of sick/personal days according to a complex formula that I have not figured out. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/5 "2004-12-01T20:21:21Z")
Where do you get 22 out of that? There are 10 Federal holidays in the US New Years Day Martin Luther King, Jr Day President’s Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving Day (frequently accompanied by the day after, unofficially) Christmas And I’d say that a US worker would be lucky to get all of them off. Here where I am we don’t get King Day or Veteran’s Day off. ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/6 "2004-12-01T20:24:38Z")
Canada gets 10 holidays mandated by the Federal Government: New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday (NUO: not universally observed, many stores are open), Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas and Boxing Day (NUO). Each province or territory gets to add at least one “local” holiday; Nova Scotia adds Natal Day (originally the day of the founding of your town/city, now usually the first Monday in August). Newfoundland leads the pack in “extra” days. They have St. Patrick’s Day, St. George’s Day, Discovery Day, Orangemen’s Day and Regatta Day. Some of these may also be NUO. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/7 "2004-12-01T21:06:54Z")
> [@SavageNarce](#): > > Newfoundland leads the pack in “extra” days. They have St. Patrick’s Day, St. George’s Day, Discovery Day, Orangemen’s Day and Regatta Day. Some of these may also be NUO. [Regatta Day](http://www.stjohns.ca/csj/EventDetails?id=725&loc=W&date=4-8-2004) is a true variable holiday, and applies only to the St. John’s area (although a couple of other cities have their own regattas). The date is “the first Wednesday in August (weather permitting)”. If the weather is too bad for the regatta to be held, the holiday is postponed to the next suitable day of good weather. A real laid back holiday. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/8 "2004-12-01T21:14:50Z")
Here in Colombia, we get 17 holidays, however, 2 of those fall on Saturday this year, but many folks here work on Saturday, so that is a windfall for them. I am retired, so every day is a holiday for me… ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/9 "2004-12-01T21:34:44Z")
I live in the US - we get 8 company holidays per year (we skip MLK, Veteran’s, and Columbus Days, and add the day after Thanksgiving). Beyond that, we get 2 weeks of vacation per year, 1 miscellaneous “personal day”, and 2 weeks of sick leave. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/10 "2004-12-01T21:40:21Z")
I also work in the US. We get Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Years. Oh, and sometimes Labor Day or Memorial Day, depending on what’s going on. And we get 4-5 weeks vacation, depending on what’s going on. Yes, I work for a small business, why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/11 "2004-12-01T21:47:28Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Where do you get 22 out of that? Because I meant to type “11” but hit the “2” key instead! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/12 "2004-12-01T21:51:42Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > (ROI counts as ‘Euro’ in the OP) And why wouldn’t it…? :dubious: Anyway, here we get: New Year St Patrick’s Day Good Friday Easter Monday May Day June Bank Holiday August Bank Holiday October Bank Holiday Christmas Day St Stephen’s Day (i.e. the day after Xmas) So, 10. And if these fall on the weekend, they get commuted into the next week. Plus we get a mandatory 20 days’ paid vacation per annum. Though I just found out this year I qualify for 44. Plus the above days. Holy crap that’s a lot of time off! I believe one of the best is Hong Kong, which gets Chinese holidays plus British colonial ones, but a) I don’t know if some of them have disappeared due to the handover, and b) whether Columbia tops that. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/13 "2004-12-01T22:04:29Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Where do you get 22 out of that? > > There are 10 Federal holidays in the US > > New Years Day > Martin Luther King, Jr Day > President’s Day > Memorial Day > Independence Day > Labor Day > Columbus Day > Veteran’s Day > Thanksgiving Day (frequently accompanied by the day after, unofficially) > Christmas > > And I’d say that a US worker would be lucky to get all of them off. Here where I am we don’t get King Day or Veteran’s Day off. Interestingly, I will get MLK Day off for the first time in my life next month. My company used to give us six standard holidays and six “floaters”, which could be used whenever. Starting next year, we’ll get nine holidays and only three floaters. I don’t know why they made this change unless it’s the fact that many people never used their floaters, and they would be paid out at full salary early in the following year. Apparently, they’d rather give us the extra paid holidays and make us take them, rather than let us opt out of them for cash reimbursement. In addition to the holidays, at my company, we get four weeks of combined vacation/sick time after we’ve been there five years. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/14 "2004-12-01T22:19:03Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I also work in the US. We get Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Years. Oh, and sometimes Labor Day or Memorial Day, depending on what’s going on. > > And we get 4-5 weeks vacation, depending on what’s going on. > Yes, I work for a small business, why do you ask? Yes, the stingy 2-week vacation for American workers is a slight shibboleth. Many people get more than that, particularly after they’ve been on the job a few years. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/15 "2004-12-01T22:54:40Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Yes, the stingy 2-week vacation for American workers is a slight shibboleth. Many people get more than that, particularly after they’ve been on the job a few years. Undoubtedly many people do, but the point people make is that even the bottom-of-the-pile workers in Ireland (amongst other western industrialised countries) get a _guaranteed_, paid, 20 days off - something that’s not guaranteed in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/16 "2004-12-01T23:20:20Z")
In Australia the number of public holidays varies from state to state. Some holidays may be restricted to certain industries e.g. Bank holiday for bank and insurance employees. I live in NSW, where there are 9 “universal” public holidays: - New Year’s Day - Australia Day (26 January) - Good Friday - Easter Monday - Anzac Day (25 April) - Queen’s Birthday (second Monday in June) - Labour Day (first Monday in October) - Christmas Day - Boxing Day (26 December) ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/17 "2004-12-02T12:56:53Z")
I note that Australia has a 4-month “holiday drought” between the Queen’s Birthday in June and Labour Day in October. Canada has a similar 3-month (or so)dry period between New Years and Easter with no intervening holiday. I would like to propose the anniversary of Canada’s Maple Leaf flag (Feb 15th) to be a new national holiday. Call it “Maple Leaf Day” (to avoid confusion with the American “Flag Day”) and make Maple Leaf cookies the official celebratory food. If necessary, we could give up Easter Monday as a Federal holiday, although I don’t see any real problem with just adding one more holiday to the roster. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/18 "2004-12-02T15:12:54Z")
We have a similar drought in the UK. There is no bank holiday between the last Monday in August and Christmas day. There have been suggestions that we have one in mid October. Trafalgar Day has been suggested , just to annoy the French! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/19 "2004-12-02T17:54:56Z")
US Federal worker checking in (DOD): We get 10 holidays/year (11 this year due to Reagan’s Death) \< 3 years on the job: 4 hours of Annual Leave (vacation)/ pay period (2.5 weeks) 3-15 years OTJ: 6 hours AL /PP (4 weeks) 15+ : 8 hours AL / PP (5 weeks) We can carry a max of 240 hrs (6 weeks) into the next leave year 4 hours Sick Leave (SL) per PP (obviously you don’t use this all every year, but build it up as a form of insurance for long term illness down the line). You can carry as much as you want year to year. We can take our leave in hour increments instead of days (very helpful in the summer when the afternoon is dragging 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546/20 "2004-12-02T18:18:05Z")
We close the specialty practice and go emergency-only for 6 days a year-- New Year’s, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I get three of these days off, and work the other three. On top of that, I get two weeks of paid vacation a year. This is the most generous leave policy of any place I’ve ever worked, sadly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-bank-holidays/277546.md?page=2)