Finland Public Holidays: 2026 Dates and Employer Pay Rules

Finland has a fixed list of official public holidays each year, but payroll treatment is far from one-size-fits-all. Whether an employee is off with pay usually depends on their schedule, the role, and the applicable collective agreement.

If you are hiring locally, this is where the details matter. A public holiday can be a paid day off for one employee, a normal workday for another, and a premium-pay day for someone on shifts.

2026 Finland public holidays calendar 

Below is a practical payroll view of Finland’s 2026 public holiday calendar and what HR and finance teams usually need to check.

A quick note for planners. Widely observed events like Midsummer Eve and Christmas Eve matter in practice, but they are not the same as official public holidays, so they should be labeled clearly in policy and payroll guidance. And when a holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, the real question is not whether the day is "lost." The real question is whether the employee was scheduled to work and what the collective agreement says happens next.

Paid days off 

A public holiday is not automatically a paid day off for every employee in Finland. Your policy needs to answer three practical questions.

• Was the holiday a scheduled workday for the employee?  If someone normally works Monday to Friday and the holiday lands on a Thursday, that usually matters more than the holiday name itself.
• What does the applicable collective agreement say about pay, working hours, and weekday holidays? In Finland, collective agreements often decide the operational details on paid time off, shorter hours, and premium pay. That’s why two employees in different sectors can get different answers for the same holiday.
• Is the holiday already covered because it lands on a Sunday?  Several Finnish public holidays do. If the employee would not normally work that day, the payroll effect may be limited. If they do work, Sunday-work rules usually come into play.

Holiday pay in Finland for payroll teams

For employees who don’t work on the holiday, the payroll result usually depends on the pay model and the collective agreement. Salaried employees are often simpler to process because monthly pay usually continues as normal when a holiday falls on a scheduled workday. Hourly employees need a closer check because the agreement may decide whether the day is unpaid, paid as a weekday holiday, or handled through reduced hours elsewhere.

It also helps to keep public holiday treatment separate from annual leave. In Finland, annual holiday pay follows its own rules, and  holiday bonus is generally based on collective agreements rather than statute. That distinction matters because payroll teams often lump these items together when they should be handled separately.

Timing matters too. Holiday wages are generally paid before annual leave begins, although some sectors pay them on the normal payday. Public-holiday pay, by contrast, is usually processed in the regular payroll run for the pay period in which the holiday falls.

If you are comparing broader leave practices across markets, our guide to paid vacation days by country is a useful side-by-side reference.

Work on a public holiday

When an employee works on a Finnish public holiday, premium pay is common. The exact multiplier, stacking rule, and whether the extra amount can be turned into time off depends heavily on the collective agreement and the type of work.

At the legal baseline, Finland treats work performed on Sundays and certain holidays as Sunday work. Under Finland’s working-hours rules, Sunday work carries a 100% increment on top of regular wages. That is the starting point. Sector agreements can then add more detail on church holidays, weekday holidays, or how premiums interact with other supplements.

Time off in lieu can show up too, but it needs to be handled carefully. Sunday-work bonuses or parts of them can be converted into time off by agreement, and overtime compensation can also sometimes be converted into paid time off. HR should not rely on a manager’s informal promise here. The arrangement needs to be documented clearly.

Sunday pay rules for public holidays that fall on Sunday

This is one of the easiest places for payroll mistakes to happen.

Several Finnish public holidays fall on Sundays, including Easter Sunday, Whit Sunday, and Independence Day in 2026. When an employee works on one of those days, Sunday pay often applies even though the date is also a public holiday. The usual legal baseline is the 100% Sunday-work increment, but the collective agreement decides the exact stacking and calculation where multiple premiums may apply.

That is why payroll shouldn’t just assume a universal holiday premium. In one sector, the Sunday increment may be the key item, but in another, the agreement may add separate rules for church holidays or weekday holidays. Build your payroll logic around the right agreement, not just a calendar code.

Substitute days

Some employers assume that if a public holiday lands on a weekend, they must always offer a substitute weekday off. In Finland, that is not a safe blanket rule.

What you may need instead depends on the collective agreement, the employee’s schedule, and whether the agreement provides a substitute paid day off, working-time reduction, or another form of compensation. For employees who normally work weekdays only, a Saturday or Sunday holiday may have no extra effect unless the agreement says otherwise.

If you are giving time off in lieu or another substitute arrangement, document the agreement in writing. Payroll should know the original holiday, the premium or substitute rule used, the date the substitute time will be taken, and who approved it.

Mid-week holidays 

Mid-week holidays can turn a clean payroll week into a messy one. Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, and Epiphany all affect scheduling differently from a weekend holiday.

For planners, the questions are straightforward: Does the short week reduce expected hours? Do shift rosters need to be updated in advance? Does the collective agreement require notice or a specific premium for work scheduled on that day?

This matters most for shift-based teams, retail, hospitality, logistics, and manufacturing. In those environments, holiday rules are rarely just about whether someone worked. They also affect roster design, overtime thresholds, and how many hours count as regular hours in the pay period.

Finland public holiday compliance checklist for employers

A clean guide leads to clean results.

• Confirm the applicable collective agreement. Check the right agreement for each role, site, and employee group.
• Check the schedule first. Confirm whether the holiday was a scheduled workday for that employee.
• Confirm the premium rule. Verify whether the day triggers Sunday pay, holiday premium, time off in lieu, or no extra payment.
• Check the payroll formula. Make sure payroll calculates the premium on the correct wage base.
• Document approvals. Record employee consent and manager approval where an agreement or local practice requires it.
• Keep records audit-ready. Retain holiday calendars, working-time records, and pay calculations.

Common payroll mistakes 

Here are some common mistakes to watch out for:

• Treating every public holiday as automatically paid time off. That is too broad for Finland.
• Missing Sunday premium pay. This is a common error when a holiday lands on Sunday.
• Ignoring sector rules. Collective agreements can change the answer for shortened hours, premiums, and substitute days.
• Skipping documentation. Time off in lieu should never live only in chat messages or memory.

FAQs

Are public holidays always paid days off in Finland?

No. Whether the employee is off with pay depends on the schedule, the pay model, and the applicable collective agreement.

What happens if the public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday?

It depends on whether the employee was scheduled to work and whether the collective agreement provides a substitute day, working-time reduction, or no extra entitlement.

Do you have to pay extra if an employee works on a public holiday?

Often, yes. Sunday-work premium or agreement-specific holiday premiums commonly apply.

Can you give a substitute day off instead of premium pay?

Sometimes, yes. But that should be based on the collective agreement or a valid written agreement, not an assumption.

Do collective agreements override the default rules?

They often decide the practical details. In Finland, the agreement is usually the key document for holiday treatment in payroll.

How an Employer of Record (EOR) can help

An employer of record is a third party that legally employs your team member in Finland on your behalf. This allows you to hire without establishing a local entity, avoiding the hidden costs of entity establishment. 

The EOR handles salary offers, employment contracts, payroll, tax withholding, statutory benefits, and all ongoing compliance. You manage the day-to-day work normally while the EOR takes care of just about everything else.

For employers testing the market or those who need to scale quickly, an EOR is usually the right choice. You get to reduce risk, move faster, and know all local laws and regulations will be followed.

How Pebl handles holidays in Finland

If you’ve made it this far, you want to hire in Finland. Maybe you’ve even found the perfect talent. There’s a lot that needs to be taken care of before you can start hiring—researching taxes, finding experts in local labor law, finding a payroll processor, and more. It takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an easier way?

With Pebl, there is.

Our EOR platform allows you to hire, pay, and manage employees in 185+ countries around the world without setting up your own local entity. That means your new talent starts in days, not months. We handle it all: onboarding, benefits, salary benchmarking, payroll, and compliance with all local regulations. Every public holiday, overtime or double time pay the law requires, we make sure it happens. All you have to do is stay focused on leading your team.

When you’re ready to do things the easy way, let us know.

This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or tax advice and is for general informational purposes only. The intent of this document is solely to provide general and preliminary information for private use. Do not rely on it as an alternative to legal, financial, taxation, or accountancy advice from an appropriately qualified professional. The content in this guide is provided “as is,” and no representations are made that the content is error-free. 

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