What are compensatory hours when a legal holiday falls on a non-working day?

In Luxembourg, employees are entitled to 11 legal holidays per year. When a holiday falls on a day the employee does not normally work, they do not lose the benefit of that day. Instead, they receive compensatory hours ("heures compensatoires") paid time off to make up for the missed public holiday.

How Are Compensatory Hours Calculated?

Salary.lu follows the official "smoothing method" (méthode du lissage) defined by the Inspection du Travail et des Mines (ITM).

Formula:

**Example: **
For a 38-hour week: 38 ÷ 5 = 7.6 hours per compensatory day.
To prevent excessive holiday compensation, employees receive only one day (e.g. 7.6 hours) per holiday, as advised by the ITM.

When Do Employees Get Compensatory Hours?

1. Legal Holiday Falls on a Non-Working Day
   The employee normally doesn’t work that day.

**Example: **
The holiday is on a Thursday, but the employee only works Monday–Wednesday and Friday.

2. Legal Holiday Falls on a Sunday
   All employees are entitled to compensatory hours.

When Do Employees Not Get Compensatory Hours?

1. Legal Holiday Falls on a Regular Working Day
   The employee is already paid for that day, no extra compensation is granted.

2. Legal Holiday Falls on a Saturday
   Compensatory hours are only granted if the employee normally works on Saturdays.

How to Manage Compensatory Hours

• Compensatory hours must be taken within 3 months from the day following the public holiday.
• If business needs prevent the employee from taking the time off, the hours must be paid out instead.

What If Multiple Holidays Fall on the Same Non-Working Day?

Each public holiday still entitles the employee to separate compensatory time. However, to avoid excessive accumulation, ITM guidance must be followed.

How Salary.lu Handles Compensatory Hours

Salary.lu ensures full compliance with Luxembourg labour law by automatically:

1. Detecting public holidays falling on non-working days
2. Calculating compensatory hours using the ITM formula
3. Tracking compensatory balances for each employee
4. Applying ITM rules to avoid overcompensation

This makes it easy for employers to manage legal holiday entitlements fairly and transparently.

Updated on: 06/06/2025