What Are The Public Holidays in Saint Lucia in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Saint Lucia (2026)

Saint Lucia has a set of nationwide public holidays that apply to employees across the country. Use the table below to plan staffing, leave, and payroll for your Saint Lucian team in 2026.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, in Saint Lucia employees are generally entitled to a paid day off on public holidays if the holiday falls on a normal working day for them, provided they meet any qualifying conditions set out in their contract or applicable labour standards. Public holidays are national rather than regional, so the same list applies across the country, and there are no separate state or provincial holidays to track.

If a public holiday falls on a day that is not a normal working day for the employee, Saint Lucian practice is that the employee is not usually entitled to an extra paid day off unless the contract, collective agreement, or company policy provides for this. Where a holiday falls on a Sunday, it is commonly observed on the following Monday for business and payroll purposes, and you should check local government announcements each year to confirm any official observance dates.

Part-time employees are typically entitled to public holiday pay on a pro rata basis when the holiday falls on a day they would ordinarily work. If your operations require staff to work on a public holiday, they are usually entitled to their normal wages for the hours worked plus a premium or a substitute day off, depending on the employment contract, collective agreement, or internal policy. Because specific rates and entitlements can vary by sector and agreement, you should document your holiday rules clearly in local contracts and handbooks and ensure they meet or exceed minimum local standards.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Saint Lucia’s employment standards are enforced primarily through labour authorities and the courts. If your company fails to provide public holiday benefits that employees are entitled to, you can face orders to pay arrears of wages, including unpaid public holiday pay and any applicable premium pay, and potentially additional penalties or interest as determined by the competent authority.

Enforcement typically starts with a complaint by an employee to the labour department or similar authority, which may investigate, attempt conciliation, or refer the matter to a tribunal or court. Persistent or deliberate non-compliance can expose your company to higher financial liability, reputational damage, and, in serious cases, restrictions on operating licences or eligibility for public contracts.

Common employer mistakes include treating public holidays as unpaid leave, failing to pay the correct premium when employees work on a holiday, not applying holiday pay consistently to part-time or shift workers, and ignoring official announcements when a holiday is moved or observed on a different day. To reduce risk, keep accurate time and pay records, update your payroll settings annually for the correct holiday calendar, and obtain local legal advice where your policies are unclear or more restrictive than local practice.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

In Saint Lucia, public holidays interact with overtime rules mainly through premium pay and how working hours are counted. When an employee works on a public holiday, those hours are often paid at a higher rate than ordinary hours, or the employee receives a substitute day off, depending on the contract or collective agreement. In many sectors, hours worked on a public holiday are treated as overtime or attract a specific holiday premium, even if the employee has not exceeded their normal weekly hours, but the exact multiplier is usually set by contract or industry practice rather than a single fixed statutory rate.

To stay compliant, you should clearly distinguish in your payroll system between ordinary hours, overtime hours, and public holiday hours. If your policy or agreement states that public holiday work is paid at, for example, 1.5x or 2x the normal rate, ensure that this is applied consistently and that any additional overtime premium is calculated on top only where required. Where there is uncertainty, the safest approach is to apply the more generous interpretation in favour of the employee and seek local legal or payroll advice to confirm how public holiday hours should count toward weekly overtime thresholds in your sector.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Managing Saint Lucia’s public holidays across a distributed team can quickly become complex, especially when you are also juggling different time zones, contracts, and pay structures. Playroll helps you simplify this by building local public holiday rules directly into your employment and payroll workflows.

With Playroll, you can onboard employees in Saint Lucia as compliant employees of record, set up contracts that reflect local public holiday and leave entitlements, and automate payroll so that public holiday pay and premiums are calculated correctly every cycle. Our local experts track changes to Saint Lucian labour standards and official holiday announcements, so your policies and pay rules stay up to date without you having to monitor every regulatory change yourself.

Playroll also makes it easier to coordinate global time off. Your managers can see which days are public holidays in Saint Lucia alongside holidays in other countries, helping you plan coverage, avoid scheduling conflicts, and keep projects moving. If you are unsure how to handle a specific situation – such as an employee working on a public holiday or how to treat part-time staff – our team can guide you to options that align with local practice and your company’s culture.

By centralising contracts, time off, and payroll for your Saint Lucian workforce in one platform, Playroll reduces compliance risk and administrative overhead, so you can focus on building a great team rather than decoding public holiday rules.