Holiday pay in Arizona has no set rate for private-sector workers. Neither federal law nor state law requires a private employer to pay you for a holiday you take off or to pay a premium for a holiday you work, so the amount lands wherever your employer’s written policy or your contract puts it. Public employees are the exception: Arizona law guarantees them either additional compensation or an extra day of leave when they work certain legal holidays. Whether you get nothing, your regular rate, time-and-a-half, or double-time depends almost entirely on which sector you work in and what your handbook says.
What Private Employers Actually Pay
The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, including holidays, and Arizona has no state law filling that gap for private employers.1U.S. Department of Labor. Holiday Pay If your employer gives you Thanksgiving off with pay, that is a voluntary benefit. If they pay time-and-a-half for working Christmas, that is also voluntary. Neither is owed.
When private employers do offer holiday pay, the arrangements tend to sort into a few patterns:
- A full day’s pay at your regular rate for a holiday you take off, usually called a paid holiday.
- Your standard hourly rate for hours worked on a holiday, with no premium.
- Time-and-a-half for hours worked on a holiday.
- Double-time for hours worked on a holiday.
- A flat holiday bonus, or a full day’s holiday pay stacked on top of the wages earned for actually working that day (sometimes called “holiday pay plus wages worked”).
The dollar figures follow directly from your base rate. With Arizona’s 2026 minimum wage at $15.15 per hour, an employee at that rate earns $22.73 per hour at time-and-a-half or $30.30 per hour at double-time. At $20 per hour, the same premiums come to $30 and $40. None of these rates are mandatory. The choice is the employer’s.
Your Employer’s Policy Is the Rule That Binds Them
Because no statute sets a floor, the employee handbook, offer letter, or collective bargaining agreement is effectively the law of your workplace on holiday pay. A written policy typically answers three questions: which holidays the company observes, whether you are paid when the office closes for one, and whether you earn a premium for working one.
Once that policy exists, the employer is generally expected to follow it. If the handbook promises time-and-a-half for holiday shifts and you were paid straight time, you may be owed the difference. Arizona requires employers to pay all wages owed under the terms of employment, and a written holiday pay policy creates an enforceable commitment. Arizona recognizes 17 official holidays by statute, but a private employer is free to observe a shorter list; the statutory list matters mostly for public employees.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 1-301 – Holidays Enumerated
Guaranteed Holiday Pay for Public Employees
If you work for the state, a county, a city, or another political subdivision, Arizona law does guarantee holiday compensation. Under ARS ยง 38-608, a public employee who works 40 or more hours per week and is required to work on a legal holiday is entitled to either one day of additional vacation leave or one day of additional compensation for each holiday worked. The holidays specifically named in the statute are Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, New Year’s Day, and Independence Day, though the broader statutory holiday list can apply depending on the employing agency’s policies.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 38-608 – Compensation or Time Off for Legal Holidays
State Employees Who Do Not Work the Holiday
A state employee regularly scheduled to work on an observed holiday who is not required to come in gets paid for the hours they were scheduled to work, up to eight hours, provided they were not on leave without pay on the workdays immediately before or after the holiday. Part-time state employees working at least a quarter-time schedule receive a proportional amount of holiday pay.4Cornell Law School. Arizona Administrative Code R2-5A-B601 – Holidays
State Employees Required to Work the Holiday
A non-exempt state employee who must work on a holiday gets both regular pay for the holiday and an additional hour of pay at their current salary rate for each hour actually worked. The agency head decides whether that extra compensation is paid out, added to annual leave, or given as paid time off on an alternate day within the same or next pay period. The maximum holiday compensation is eight hours per holiday.4Cornell Law School. Arizona Administrative Code R2-5A-B601 – Holidays Exempt state employees who work on a holiday generally do not receive additional compensation beyond their regular salary unless they meet specific conditions.
How Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Status Changes the Math
Non-exempt employees, typically hourly, receive whatever the employer’s policy says: nothing, straight time, or a premium. There is no legal floor. Calculations are straightforward hourly amounts.
Exempt employees are paid a predetermined salary that covers all hours worked in a workweek. Federal regulations prohibit docking an exempt employee’s pay for partial-day absences, including hours missed when the business closes early on a holiday. If you are exempt and the office shuts at noon on Christmas Eve, your paycheck cannot be reduced for the afternoon. An employer can deduct for full-day absences taken for personal reasons, but when the employer’s own policy grants the holiday off, the absence is the employer’s operating decision, not the employee’s personal choice, and the salary generally cannot be reduced.5eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis Improper deductions can jeopardize the exemption itself.
Does Holiday Work Trigger Overtime?
Not automatically. Under federal law, overtime kicks in only when you work more than 40 hours in a single workweek, and the FLSA does not require overtime pay for holiday work as such.6U.S. Department of Labor. Overtime Pay Arizona has no state overtime law that adds to this.
Hours you actually work on a holiday count toward the 40-hour threshold. Paid holiday hours you did not work generally do not. If Monday is a paid holiday and you work Tuesday through Friday for 36 hours, your worked hours total 36, not 44, even though you were paid for 44. No overtime is owed on those numbers.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 – Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA Some employer policies voluntarily count paid holiday hours toward overtime; check your handbook. If your employer pays a holiday premium such as time-and-a-half, that premium can be excluded from your regular rate for overtime calculations and can be credited toward any overtime owed for the week.8eCFR. 29 CFR 778.219 – Pay for Forgoing Holidays and Unused Leave
Being Required to Use PTO for a Holiday Closure
Some Arizona employers require workers to use PTO for days the business closes rather than providing a separate paid holiday benefit. Federal law does not prohibit this. Because the FLSA treats holiday pay, vacation pay, and PTO as voluntary benefits governed by employer policy, the employer has broad discretion over how those benefits interact.1U.S. Department of Labor. Holiday Pay If the company closes for a full week in December and requires PTO for those days, that is legal as long as the policy was communicated in advance. Read the handbook at the start of the year so you can plan your PTO around it.
Religious Accommodations for a Holiday Shift
If your religious beliefs prevent you from working on a particular holiday, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires your employer to make reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious practices, including scheduling changes, unless the accommodation would impose a substantial burden on the business.9U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fact Sheet – Religious Accommodations in the Workplace
The Supreme Court clarified this standard in 2023, holding that an employer must show the accommodation would result in “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business” to deny the request. General resentment from coworkers or hostility toward the religious practice does not count as undue hardship.10Supreme Court of the United States. Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023) You do not need to make the request in writing or use any specific legal language. Telling your employer you need the time off for a religious reason is enough to start the process.
If Promised Holiday Pay Goes Unpaid
When an Arizona employer’s written policy or contract promises holiday pay and they fail to pay it, you can file an unpaid wage claim with the Industrial Commission of Arizona’s Labor Department. You submit a claim form with supporting documents, including pay stubs, your employment agreement, and any written holiday pay policy. Claims can be filed by mail, fax, or email. Incomplete claims may be delayed or dismissed, so gather your documentation first.
The Labor Department handles disputes between employees and employers but does not have jurisdiction over independent contractor relationships. If you are classified as an independent contractor, the wage claim process is not available, though you may have other options if the classification is incorrect. Arizona imposes time limits on wage recovery actions, so file promptly.