Building the year's calendar in a private workplace: paid rest, feast days, and work on a holiday
The year’s calendar in a private business is not copied from what government departments announce. The owner of a bakery, a private hospital or a security company asks the office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, each year: on which days must my staff rest on full pay? And if I need someone on a feast day, how is that work paid? The answer is drawn from two statutes together: Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, articles 70 to 75, published in the Official Gazette, issue 4386 of 9/11/2015, and Official Holidays Law No. 12 of 2024, published in the Official Gazette, issue 4777 of 27/5/2024, which takes effect from the date of publication (art. 6). The office arranges the answer the way a human-resources manager builds a calendar.
Start with the weekly rest day
Every worker is owed a weekly rest of at least twenty-four paid hours in a single stretch. Friday is the weekly holiday by default, and another weekday may be substituted (art. 70, first paragraph). The employer organises the times at which workers take this rest, on one day for all of them whenever possible. If the nature of the work makes that impossible, the rest is given by rotation, provided each worker is given a fixed day (art. 70, second paragraph). Article 74, first paragraph (b), repeats that the weekly rest is not less than one fully paid day.
In a private hospital, for example. Not everyone can rest on Friday, so the rest day is spread across a fixed, published rota for each member of staff.
Then mark the official holidays the 2024 Law names
Law No. 12 of 2024 divides official holidays into three groups:
- General holidays (art. 1). These include Friday and Saturday of each week; days in the Hijri calendar including the Hijri New Year, Ashura, the Prophet’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Ghadir; days in the Gregorian calendar including the New Year, Army Day, Nowruz, and Labour Day; and a day commemorating the crimes of the Baath. The first days of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are fixed by a statement issued by the Shiite and Sunni Endowment Offices and sent to the Office of the Prime Minister. If the two offices differ, the holiday runs from the first day fixed by one office to the last day fixed by the other.
- Special holidays (art. 2). Further days, in addition to the general holidays, for the Christian, Sabian and Yazidi communities on the days the article states.
- Temporary holidays (art. 3). The Council of Ministers may declare a temporary official holiday for special occasions, not exceeding seven days in the year, and may decide to resume work on Saturday.
The 2024 Law repealed Official Holidays Law No. 110 of 1972 and the earlier resolutions and orders the text lists (art. 4). Governorates that contain the holy cities of Najaf, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Samarra may suspend work in official departments and institutions in the governorate on the religious official holiday and the days around it, for no more than three days. That power, on the wording of the text, concerns official bodies; it does not of itself extend to every private project.
How those days reach a private-sector worker
They reach the worker through article 74 of the Labour Law: feast days and official holidays that the law itself names are days of rest, and they are paid in full (art. 74, first paragraph (a)). If one of those days falls while the worker is already on annual leave, it is not taken off the leave balance (art. 74, third paragraph).
Saturday then needs a careful reading. The Official Holidays Law treats Friday and Saturday of each week as general official holidays. The Labour Law makes Friday the weekly holiday and allows it to be replaced by another day, and article 3 of the 2024 Law allows the Council of Ministers to resume work on Saturday. In each business, therefore, the office reads the workers’ contracts, the internal regulations, and any Council of Ministers decision published at the time, and builds the calendar from both statutes together.
The amount of annual leave and the ceilings on overtime are set out in annual leave and overtime. Part-time work is treated in part-time and remote work.
If someone works on a holiday, at what rate?
The Law opens two doors.
By agreement (art. 70, third paragraph). Where the employer and the workers agree, staff may be asked to come in on a weekly rest day or on an official holiday, provided pay follows the overtime rules and a substitute rest day is given in the week that follows. Article 71, sixth paragraph, treats as overtime any work done in a daily or weekly rest period, or beyond the ordinary daily hours, or on a feast day or official holiday that the law names. The overtime supplement is an increase of fifty per cent of the ordinary wage if the work is daytime work, and not less than double pay if the work is night work or if the work is dangerous, arduous, or harmful. A worker who gave up the weekly rest day is owed another day off in its place (art. 71, fourth paragraph). When exceptions are granted, the Ministry must state, in each case, the ceiling on extra hours.
For a statutory necessity (art. 74, second paragraph). A worker may be asked to come in on a feast day or official holiday — though not on the weekly rest day — for one of the reasons in article 71, third paragraph, among them seasonal and feast-day pressure of work, machine maintenance, preventing spoilage of materials, or annual inventory, and is then paid double in addition to the ordinary wage.
A bakery example. A bakery asks its bakers to attend on the first day of the Eid because demand doubles. That may fall under pressure of work at feast days, so they may be employed at double pay in addition to their wage. It is better that the agreement is written in advance and the Eid rota is announced in good time.
The office reads this framework from Baghdad, and can be reached on +964 770 848 7526. Employing a worker on an official holiday or on weekly rest is measured against articles 70, 74 and 71.
Legal basis and sources
- Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4386 of 9/11/2015) — Articles 70–75
- Official Holidays Law No. 12 of 2024 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4777 of 27/5/2024)
- Official Holidays Law No. 12 of 2024, Official Gazette, issue 4777 of 27/5/2024, articles 1 to 6
Frequently asked questions
Is a private-sector worker entitled to pay for a feast day spent at home?
Yes. Rest on feast days and official holidays that the law itself names is paid in full (art. 74, first paragraph).
A feast day fell during my annual leave. Are those days taken off my leave balance?
No. Those days are left out of the leave calculation (art. 74, third paragraph).
The Council of Ministers announced a sudden holiday. Does it cover my private business?
A temporary holiday is declared under article 3 of the 2024 Law. Its effect in a private business is read from the wording of that decision and from article 74 of the Labour Law, which ties paid rest to holidays prescribed by law.
May a worker be employed on an official holiday?
Article 70 allows the parties to agree that staff will come in on a weekly rest day or on an official holiday, paid under the overtime rules, with a substitute rest day in the week that follows. Article 74 allows work on a feast day or official holiday — though not on the weekly rest day — for one of the reasons in article 71, third paragraph, at double pay in addition to the wage.
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