The Measures for National Holidays on Annual and Commemorative Days specifies that Women’s Day (March 8), is a half-day holiday for women.
In reality, however, many employers do not really give holidays to their female workers. So, here’s the question – is it illegal not to give women employees a holiday on Women’s Day? If no holiday is granted, should the employer pay overtime?
Whether overtime pay should be given has to be decided according to the situation.
Going by the relevant provisions of the “National Annual Holiday and Memorial Day Holiday Measures”, Women’s Day is a holiday and memorial day for some citizens and is a half-day holiday. It is important to note that Women’s Day is not a national holiday, so the mandatory holiday does not apply, and the “half-day holiday on Women’s Day” is essentially an advocacy provision.
Whether the employer is required to pay overtime for not giving women employees a half-day off on Women’s Day should be discussed in each case. The Letter on Wage Issues Related to Partial Citizens’ Holiday clearly states that during the holiday of some citizens’ holiday, the unit shall pay wages to employees who participate in social or unit-organized celebrations and work as usual, but not pay overtime wages.
If the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday and the unit arranges for the employee to work overtime, overtime wages for the rest day shall be paid in accordance with the law.
In addition, the Measures on National Holidays for Annual Festivals and Commemorative Days stipulate that holidays on which all citizens take holidays shall be made up on working days if they fall on Saturdays and Sundays. If a holiday taken by some citizens falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday will not be made up. In other words, Women’s Day cannot be made up if it falls on a weekend.
