What Are The Public Holidays in Ivory Coast in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Ivory Coast (2026)

Ivory Coast sets public holidays at the national level, combining fixed‑date civil holidays with religious holidays that follow the Gregorian and Islamic calendars. The dates below reflect the most widely accepted 2026 calendar, but Islamic holidays may shift by one day once officially announced.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, under Ivorian labour practice, public holidays that fall on an employee’s normal workday are generally treated as paid non‑working days, unless the employee is required to work. The Labour Code and collective agreements typically require employers to maintain normal pay when the business closes for a statutory holiday. Where operations continue and employees work on a public holiday, they are usually entitled to premium pay on top of their regular wage, most commonly at a higher hourly rate or with compensatory rest, depending on the sector agreement.

Public holidays are set nationally rather than regionally, so the same list applies across Ivory Coast. Islamic holidays such as Eid al‑Fitr and Eid al‑Adha are confirmed each year by government decree once the lunar calendar dates are known. When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, it is commonly observed on that calendar day without an automatic weekday in lieu, although some employers voluntarily grant a substitute day off as a matter of policy or collective bargaining.

For part‑time staff, the safest approach is to provide paid leave or equivalent compensation when a holiday falls on a day they are normally scheduled to work, and no entitlement when it falls on a non‑working day, unless your internal policy or applicable collective agreement is more generous. Because specific entitlements can vary by sector and contract, you should always check the relevant collective agreement and written employment terms for your Ivorian workforce.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Failure to respect public holiday rules in Ivory Coast can expose your company to administrative penalties, back‑pay claims and, in serious cases, criminal fines. Labour inspectors under the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection can audit your time‑and‑attendance records, payroll and internal policies to verify that public holidays are correctly treated as paid days or compensated when worked.

If you do not pay employees correctly for public holidays or require them to work without the appropriate premium or compensatory rest, you may be ordered to pay wage arrears, damages and statutory interest. Repeated or intentional non‑compliance can lead to higher fines and, in some cases, temporary closure orders for specific worksites. Common mistakes include treating public holidays as unpaid leave, failing to apply premium rates for holiday work, and not updating payroll settings when the government announces the official dates for Eid holidays.

To reduce risk, keep clear written policies on public holidays, document work schedules and approvals for holiday work, and ensure your local payroll provider or internal team is tracking official decrees each year.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

In Ivory Coast, public holidays interact with overtime rules mainly through how hours are classified and paid. Hours worked on a public holiday are typically treated as exceptional hours and attract a premium above the normal overtime rate, as set out in the Labour Code and sector‑specific collective agreements. This means that if an employee already reaches the standard weekly limit, any additional hours on a holiday are both overtime and holiday work, and should be paid at the higher applicable rate.

Even where the weekly threshold is not exceeded, many collective agreements treat any work on a public holiday as premium‑rate work, regardless of total weekly hours. Night work or Sunday work on a public holiday can trigger cumulative premiums. Because the exact percentages and thresholds can vary by industry, the safest approach is to check the relevant collective agreement for your Ivorian entity and configure your time‑tracking and payroll systems so that public holiday hours are coded separately from regular overtime.

For salaried employees with fixed hours, ensure that any exceptional holiday work is recorded and compensated according to local rules, rather than absorbed into the base salary by default.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Managing public holidays, Islamic lunar‑based dates and sector‑specific overtime rules in Ivory Coast can be challenging if your HR and payroll teams are based abroad. Playroll helps you stay compliant by combining local legal expertise with automated workflows tailored to Ivorian labour law.

When you hire in Ivory Coast through Playroll, we build public holiday calendars directly into your employment setup, so your team’s schedules, leave approvals and payroll calculations all reflect the official national holidays and the final government‑confirmed dates for Eid. Our local experts track legal updates, collective agreements and ministerial decrees, then update your configuration so you do not have to chase last‑minute changes.

Playroll automatically applies the right treatment for public holidays – from paid non‑working days to premium pay for holiday work – and separates those hours from regular overtime in your reports. That gives you clear visibility into labour costs while reducing the risk of underpayments, disputes or labour‑inspector findings.

If you are scaling a distributed team, Playroll also standardises how you handle leave across countries while still respecting local rules in Ivory Coast. You can set global policies, then let our platform handle the local details: correct holiday calendars, accurate payslips, and compliant contracts for each employee.

With Playroll, you can focus on building your Ivorian team, confident that your public holiday and leave obligations are being handled correctly in the background.