Do employees get extra pay on a leap year day?

Authored by DAS

Every four years, many workers find themselves cramming in an extra day of work into an already packed year.

A small price to pay for maintaining the Gregorian calendar’s synchronicity with the celestial movements of our solar system, you might say. But are workers in the UK entitled to extra pay for this extra work? Nicole Rogers has the answer.

Ultimately it comes down to how you are paid; this will determine if you are entitled to any additional pay for the Leap Year.

If you are paid on an hourly basis then you would be entitled to be paid for the hours you have worked, and as such, would receive payment for any hours worked on the additional Leap Year day.

However, if you receive an annual salary, you would not be entitled to be paid for an extra day as this will have been factored into your salary. In these cases, staff are usually paid 1/12^th of their annual salary each month regardless of the number of days in that month.

Can I ask my employer not to work on Feb 29^th and not have to take it as annual leave? 

An employee can of course ask not to work on Feb 29^th however, this request would be treated like most other types of leave; that is, it is at the discretion of the employer to allow a worker the day off.

There is no legal entitlement to have Feb 29^th off as paid leave without this being deducted from holiday entitlement.