Public holidays in 2021 include four long weekends
There will be four long weekends next year, three fewer than this year. The dates of the public holidays for next year were released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday.
Three of the 11 gazetted public holidays for next year fall on a Friday and one on a Monday. The public holidays that fall on a Friday are New Year's Day (Jan 1), Chinese New Year (Feb 12) and Good Friday (April 2), while the public holiday that falls on a Monday is National Day (Aug 9).
The remaining public holidays are Chinese New Year (Feb 13), Labour Day (May 1), Hari Raya Aidilfitri (May 13), Vesak Day (May 26), Hari Raya Haji (July 20), Deepavali (Nov 4) and Christmas Day (Dec 25).
MOM said an employee required to work on a public holiday is entitled to an extra day's salary at the basic rate of pay, in addition to his gross rate of pay for that day.
Alternatively, the employer and employee may mutually agree to substitute a public holiday with a day off on another working day.
An employer also has the option of granting time-off-in-lieu to an employee, based on a mutually agreed number of hours, for working on a public holiday.
This is for employees such as workmen earning more than $4,500 a month, non-workmen earning more than $2,600 a month and all managers and executives.
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