Paraguay Public Holidays: 2026 Dates & Pay Rules

Public holidays in Paraguay affect staffing, payroll, and can create easy places to slip up. You need the right holiday calendar, the right observed date, and the right pay treatment for anyone who works.

2026 Paraguay public holidays in 

Easter Sunday sometimes shows up on holiday lists, but it usually doesn’t change the workweek because it falls on a Sunday. If your team works Sundays, handle it under your Sunday-work rules and any extra premiums in your internal policy or collective agreement.

Who gets a paid public holiday in Paraguay

For most employees, a public holiday in Paraguay is a paid non-working day. In practical terms, that means you keep the employee’s pay whole for the day even though they are not working. Paraguay’s Labor Ministry has also described these dates as paid non-working days that still carry premium pay if someone works.

That is the typical rule. The part you still need to check is the employee’s schedule. If the role sits on a continuous-service roster, rotating shift plan, or holiday coverage schedule, the employee may still work that day. 

How public holiday pay usually works when no one works

When the public holiday is not worked, you generally keep your base pay as normal for the day.

If you pay a salary, that usually means the holiday is already absorbed into the monthly salary amount. If you pay hourly, you need a clear internal rule for how scheduled holiday hours are handled. Some employers show the day through a holiday pay code. Others keep it inside ordinary pay while still reflecting the day off in time tracking. Either route can work if the employee receives the correct pay and the record is easy to follow.

This is worth deciding early. Payroll errors often come from manual workarounds, not from the legal rule itself.

Public holiday premium pay in Paraguay when an employee works

This is the rule that matters most for payroll: if an employee works on a public holiday in Paraguay, those hours are paid with a 100% surcharge.

In plain English, you pay the normal day plus an additional day’s pay for the holiday work. 

For your payroll team, the safest approach is simple.

• Track the hours clearly. Record the holiday shift start time, end time, and total hours worked.
• Use a separate earnings code. Show the holiday premium on the payslip if your system allows it.
• Keep the calculation visible. If an employee asks why they were paid a certain amount, the math should be easy to follow.

Can you swap a public holiday for another day off?

Usually, no. A later day off does not replace the legal premium for working on a public holiday.

This is where managers sometimes get tripped up. Someone works the holiday, the manager offers Tuesday off instead, and everyone assumes the issue is settled—it’s not. If the employee worked the public holiday, the premium pay is still due. A day in lieu can be a nice perk, but it comes in addition to the legal pay requirement.

When Paraguay moves a holiday to create a long weekend

Paraguay can move certain holidays to Monday to create long weekends. That flexibility exists under the law, which allows some national holidays to be moved around to Monday while keeping others on their fixed dates.

That matters because payroll should follow the observed date for that year, not just the historical date on an old template. In 2026, Heroes’ Day is the clearest example. The historical date is March 1, but the observed holiday is Monday, March 2.

A small admin step can save a lot of cleanup later. Update your payroll calendar, time-tracking system, and manager scheduling tools early in the year. Then check again if Paraguay issues a decree or holiday update that changes observance.

Payroll checklist for Paraguay public holidays

Use this as your working list before each holiday.

• Load the local calendar early. Add both the holiday and the observed date to your payroll and scheduling tools.
• Match the holiday to the pay period. Make sure premium pay does not slip into the wrong cycle.
• Confirm who is actually scheduled. Holiday staffing should be approved before the shift happens.
• Keep attendance records. You need a clean record of who worked and for how long.
• Show the premium on the payslip. Clear line items reduce payroll questions and audit headaches.
• Brief your managers. They should know that a later day off does not erase holiday premium pay.

Common payroll situations 

Some businesses can’t close on public holidays. Retail, operations, logistics, hospitality, and support teams often need at least partial coverage. In those cases, the biggest risk is failing to code the hours correctly.

Rotating schedules can be trickier. If the holiday falls on someone’s usual rest day, you should review the schedule, the employee’s contract setup, and the actual shift plan before making assumptions.

Leave overlap is another one to watch. If an employee is on approved leave and a public holiday falls in the middle of that leave, confirm how your local setup treats the holiday before you deduct leave balances. That is especially important if your global team is trying to standardize leave processes across countries. Our guide to paid vacation days by country is a helpful reminder that leave rules vary more than most teams expect.

What to watch for before you lock payroll

A few mistakes show up again and again.

• Assuming a future day off solves everything. It does not replace the holiday premium.
• Using a global calendar without a local check. Observed dates can move.
• Ignoring extra rules in a collective agreement or policy. If your employee is entitled to something better, you need to follow that extra layer.
• Mixing up holiday pay with other seasonal payments. In some countries, year-end or holiday-related payments are their own separate issue. Pebl’s overview of holiday bonuses in different countries shows how fast those rules can vary across markets.

How an Employer of Record (EOR) can help

An employer of record is a third party that legally employs your team member in Paraguay 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.

Pebl handles holiday pay in Paraguay

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve got your sights set on outsourcing a bookkeeper. 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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