What Are The Public Holidays in Georgia in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Georgia (2026)

Georgia sets public holidays at the national level, and these dates apply across the entire country. Use the table below to plan staffing, leave, and payroll for your Georgian team in 2026.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, under Georgian labour law, public holidays listed in the Labour Code and related regulations are generally treated as paid non-working days for employees, unless the employment contract or a collective agreement clearly provides for work on those days with appropriate compensation. In practice, your company should treat these 17 days in 2026 as paid days off for full-time employees, provided the holiday falls on a day they would normally work.

If your operations require staff to work on a public holiday, you must either pay a premium rate or provide compensatory rest in line with the Labour Code and any contractual terms. The law does not set a single nationwide percentage uplift for all situations, so many employers adopt at least double pay or a day off in lieu to stay on the safe side and remain competitive.

Part-time and shift workers are usually entitled to paid public holidays on a pro rata basis, depending on their normal working schedule. If a holiday falls on a non-working day for a particular employee, Georgian law does not automatically require an additional paid day off, but many employers choose to offer a substitute day as a matter of policy to support fairness and retention.

Public holidays are national in Georgia, with no separate regional or municipal public holiday regimes that change the statutory list. However, some localities and sectors may observe additional traditional or religious days as customary leave, which you can recognise through company policy rather than as statutory holidays.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Failing to respect public holiday rules in Georgia can expose your company to administrative fines and orders to compensate affected employees. The Labour Inspection Service and other competent authorities can investigate complaints, review employment contracts and time records, and require you to correct underpayments or unlawful scheduling practices.

Where inspectors find that employees were required to work on public holidays without proper pay or compensatory rest, they can impose financial penalties per violation and per employee, and may require back pay with interest. Repeated or intentional non-compliance can lead to higher fines and closer monitoring of your operations.

Common employer mistakes include treating public holidays as normal working days without premium pay, misclassifying employees as contractors to avoid holiday obligations, and failing to document consent and compensation when staff agree to work on holidays. Keeping clear written policies, accurate timesheets, and signed employment agreements in both Georgian and a language your HQ understands will help you demonstrate compliance if audited.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

In Georgia, public holidays interact with general working time and overtime rules rather than creating a separate overtime system. Standard weekly working time is capped by law, and hours worked beyond those limits or beyond the employee’s contractual schedule are treated as overtime, which must be compensated at a higher rate or with additional rest time, as agreed in the contract or collective agreement and consistent with the Labour Code.

When an employee works on a public holiday, those hours are typically both holiday work and, if they exceed normal daily or weekly limits, overtime. In practice, employers often apply a combined approach: a premium rate for work on the public holiday plus any overtime premium triggered by excess hours. Because the Labour Code leaves room for contractual arrangements, you should clearly define in your Georgian employment contracts how holiday work and overtime are calculated and paid, and ensure that your payroll system can track holiday hours separately from regular hours.

To minimise risk, many international employers in Georgia adopt a conservative standard, such as paying at least double the regular hourly rate for work on a public holiday and monitoring weekly totals to ensure that any additional overtime premium is also applied where required.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Managing Georgia's public holidays and leave rules doesn’t have to be complex. Playroll keeps you 100% compliant by automatically tracking local holidays, observed days, and pay requirements –  so your team is paid correctly and on time, every time.

Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling a growing team, Playroll lets you employ talent without setting up a local entity. We handle compliant contracts, benefits, and payroll in one platform, so you can reduce compliance risk and focus on growing your business while we take care of the heavy-lifting in the background. Book a chat with our team to get started.