Calculating holiday pay for employees on an hourly rate involves two primary metrics: your total hour entitlement and the monetary value of that time. For many workers, statutory holiday entitlement is calculated based on a fixed number of weeks (commonly 5.6 weeks in many jurisdictions) multiplied by the average number of hours worked per week.
The Formula Used
The calculator uses the following mathematical logic:
Total Holiday Hours: Average Weekly Hours × Holiday Weeks Entitlement
Total Holiday Pay Value: Total Holiday Hours × Hourly Rate
Accrual Rate: In cases of irregular hours, holiday is often accrued at a rate of 12.07% for every hour worked.
Example Calculation
If you earn $20 per hour and work an average of 40 hours per week, with a 5.6-week holiday entitlement:
For casual or "zero-hours" workers, holiday is usually earned as you work. The 12.07% figure is derived from the fact that 5.6 weeks of holiday divided by the remaining 46.4 weeks of the year (52 – 5.6) equals 0.1207. This means for every hour you work, you earn roughly 7 minutes of paid holiday time.
function calculateHolidayPay() {
var rate = parseFloat(document.getElementById('hourlyRate').value);
var hours = parseFloat(document.getElementById('weeklyHours').value);
var weeks = parseFloat(document.getElementById('holidayWeeks').value);
var resultDiv = document.getElementById('holidayResult');
if (isNaN(rate) || isNaN(hours) || isNaN(weeks) || rate <= 0 || hours <= 0 || weeks <= 0) {
resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
resultDiv.innerHTML = 'Please enter valid positive numbers for all fields.';
return;
}
var totalHolidayHours = hours * weeks;
var totalHolidayPay = totalHolidayHours * rate;
var accrualPerHour = (0.1207 * rate).toFixed(2);
resultDiv.style.display = 'block';
resultDiv.innerHTML =
'