What Are The Public Holidays in Haiti in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Haiti (2026)

Haiti’s public holidays combine fixed national dates and religious observances that shift each year. Use this 2026 holiday list to plan staffing, leave approvals, and payroll for your Haiti-based team.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, under Haitian labor practice, public holidays are generally treated as paid rest days for employees, and most employers provide paid leave when a national public holiday falls on a normal working day. The Labor Code requires employers to respect legal public holidays, and in practice this means employees who do not work on those days usually receive their normal basic pay.

Where a public holiday falls on a Sunday or another non-working day, Haitian law does not always spell out a mandatory substitute day, but many employers follow local custom and grant a weekday off in lieu or provide another form of compensatory rest. You should set a clear internal policy on how your company will handle holidays that fall on weekends and apply it consistently.

Part-time employees typically receive holiday pay on a pro-rated basis, aligned with their usual working schedule. If a part-time employee is not normally scheduled on the day a holiday falls, they are not usually entitled to paid time off for that day, unless your company policy or a collective agreement grants a more generous benefit.

When employees are required to work on a public holiday, they are usually entitled to both their normal pay for the hours worked and an additional premium or compensatory rest, based on the applicable provisions of the Haitian Labor Code and any sectoral agreements. Because enforcement practice can vary, many international employers in Haiti choose a conservative approach and provide either premium pay or a substitute day off whenever staff work on a public holiday.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Failure to respect public holidays and related pay obligations can expose your company to administrative and financial consequences in Haiti. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) is the primary enforcement authority and can investigate complaints from employees, unions, or other stakeholders.

Where inspectors find non-compliance, employers may face orders to correct payroll records, pay back wages for unpaid or underpaid holidays, and, in some cases, administrative fines. Persistent or bad-faith violations can increase the risk of litigation, including claims for damages, interest on unpaid amounts, and potential reputational harm with local authorities and workers.

Common employer mistakes include treating public holidays as unpaid leave, failing to apply premium pay or compensatory rest when employees work on a holiday, and not documenting holiday policies clearly in employment contracts or internal regulations. To reduce risk, you should keep accurate time and attendance records, document any holiday work approvals, and ensure your local HR or payroll provider understands current Haitian labor requirements.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

In Haiti, public holidays interact with working time and overtime rules in a way that can increase your effective labor cost if not planned carefully. Hours worked on a public holiday are typically treated more strictly than ordinary weekday hours, and many employers apply a premium rate for holiday work in addition to any standard overtime rules that may apply once daily or weekly thresholds are exceeded.

If an employee works on a public holiday, those hours usually count toward weekly working time calculations. When total hours exceed the legal or contractual weekly limit, the excess should be treated as overtime, with the applicable overtime premium layered on top of any holiday premium your company offers. For example, if your internal policy pays 150% of base pay for public holiday work and 150% for overtime, you should define clearly whether these premiums stack or whether you apply the higher of the two, and reflect that in contracts and your employee handbook.

Because the Haitian Labor Code and local practice can be interpreted differently across sectors, many global employers adopt a cautious standard: treating all hours worked on a public holiday as at least equivalent to overtime, and ensuring that any additional overtime triggered by weekly totals is also compensated. Align your approach with local legal advice and review it annually to stay in step with evolving practice.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Managing Haiti’s mix of national, religious, and commemorative holidays can be challenging, especially if your HR and payroll teams are based outside the country. Playroll helps you centralize compliance so you can focus on building your Haiti team rather than decoding local rules.

With Playroll, you can:

Hire Haitian employees compliantly as full-time staff or contractors, with locally compliant contracts that reflect public holiday and leave entitlements.

Automate holiday calendars for Haiti so your global HR team always knows which days are non-working and how they affect scheduling and payroll.

Configure paid holiday, overtime, and premium pay rules in line with Haitian labor standards, and apply them consistently across your workforce.

Track time off, public holidays, and worked holiday hours in one system, reducing manual errors and the risk of underpaying staff.

Access local expertise when regulations or practices change, so your policies for weekend holidays, substitute days, and premium pay remain up to date.

Playroll acts as your compliance co-pilot in Haiti, helping you document clear policies, align contracts and handbooks with local law, and ensure every public holiday is handled correctly in payroll. That means fewer compliance surprises, happier employees, and more time for your team to focus on growth.