Do you get holiday pay for working a holiday on a travel contract?

Federal law does not require extra pay for working a holiday; a holiday rate is whatever your contract says. If the contract pays a holiday premium of at least time and a half, the federal overtime rules let that premium count toward overtime, so ask for the holiday rate and how it is figured in writing before a holiday week.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published November 7, 2026.

Does federal law require holiday pay?

No. The Department of Labor’s holiday pay page says that the Fair Labor Standards Act “does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays (federal or otherwise),” and that “these benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee”.

The same is true of working a holiday: federal law sets no separate holiday rate. If your offer pays one, it is a term of your contract with the agency, and the contract decides which days count. Time off during a contract covers the days you take off.

Does a holiday premium count toward overtime?

It can, if it is large enough. The federal overtime regulations say that “extra compensation provided by a Premium rate of at least time and one-half which is paid for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest” may be treated as an overtime premium.

A smaller premium works differently. The same section says that “if the premium rate is less than time and one-half, the extra compensation provided by such rate must be included in determining the employee’s regular rate of pay and cannot be credited toward statutory overtime due”. So ask what multiplier the holiday rate uses, because it changes how any overtime in that week is figured. Overtime on a travel contract explains the weekly rule.

If you want an offer's holiday terms and minimum hours in writing before you sign, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.

Do paid holiday hours you don't work count toward overtime?

No. If your contract pays a holiday you do not work, the regulations say such payments “are not made as compensation for his hours of employment,” and “no part of such payments may be credited toward overtime compensation due under the Act.”

In a holiday week, the hours you actually work decide whether you reach overtime; a paid holiday off does not add to them. Check the stub for that week with that in mind.

What if you work instead of taking a paid holiday?

If your contract gives you a paid holiday and you work it instead, the extra holiday pay is still not overtime pay. The regulations say that when an employee “forgoes the use of leave and instead receives a payment that is the approximate equivalent to the employees’ normal earnings for a similar period of working time, and is in addition to the employee’s normal compensation for hours worked, the sum allocable to the forgone leave may be excluded from the regular rate.”

The same section adds: “Since it is not compensation for work, pay for unused leave may not be credited toward overtime compensation due under the Act.” So in a week where you work the holiday, you are owed overtime on the hours you worked past the weekly limit as usual, and the holiday pay sits on top of it. If the stub nets one against the other, ask payroll how they were figured.

What if the facility closes for the holiday?

Then the question is the minimum hours your contract promises, not holiday pay. A closed day is a shift you cannot work, and whether you are paid for it, asked to make it up, or simply short that week depends on the contract’s terms.

Ask before the week starts: does a facility closure count against your minimum hours, can you make up the shift, and does anything happen to the stipends in a short week. Get the answer in writing; pay packages explained covers reading the hours line in an offer.

What should you ask before a holiday week?

Four things, in writing. Which days the contract treats as holidays. What a worked holiday pays, and whether the rate is at least time and a half. Whether a paid holiday off is part of the contract at all. And how a facility closure affects your minimum hours and stipends.

Ask the facility side too, through your recruiter: holiday schedules are often set early, and travelers are sometimes asked to cover them. Knowing the rate before you agree to a shift is easier than disputing a stub afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

Do travel therapists get holiday pay?

Only if the contract provides it. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for holidays, and that such benefits are generally a matter of agreement between employer and employee.

Does holiday pay count toward overtime?

A holiday premium of at least time and a half may be treated as an overtime premium under the federal regulations. A smaller premium is included in the regular rate instead and cannot be credited toward overtime due.

Do paid holidays count as hours worked for overtime?

No. The federal regulations say pay for a holiday not worked is not compensation for hours of employment, and none of it may be credited toward overtime due.

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