Uzbekistan Public Holidays: 2026 Dates & Employer Rules

If you employ people in Uzbekistan, public holidays affect more than just time off. They can change payroll cutoffs, customer support coverage, project timelines, and whether a working day needs premium pay or a substitute rest day. That matters even more when your team is small, and one missed calendar detail can ripple across hiring, ops, and finance.

The good news is that the laws are straightforward. Uzbekistan’s Labor Code sets out the country’s official non-working holidays, and the government can add extra days off or move weekend days to create longer breaks. For 2026, that has already happened through a presidential decree.

Uzbekistan public holidays at a glance

Here’s what to plan around:

Uzbekistan’s official holiday list comes from the Labor Code and includes New Year’s Day, International Women’s Day, Navruz, Day of Remembrance and Honor, Independence Day, Teacher and Mentor Day, Constitution Day, plus the first day of Ramadan Hayit and Qurbon Hayit. The official Uzbekistan holiday list, the Labor Code of Uzbekistan, the 2026 work calendar, and the 2026 decree on additional non-working days are worth checking if you need the most up to date guidance.

What holiday pay looks like in Uzbekistan

Under Uzbekistan’s Labor Code, public holidays are non-working days. If your employee does not work on the holiday, they keep the day off. If you require work on that day, holiday work must be paid at no less than double the normal rate. At the employee’s request, you can provide a substitute day of rest instead. In that case, the holiday work is paid at the normal single rate, and the substitute rest day itself is unpaid.

That is important because it means you can’t treat all holiday work the same inside payroll. Some employees may receive premium holiday pay, while others may receive a different rest day later. Both can be compliant, but only if they’re documented properly and reflected correctly in payroll calculations.

Extra non-working days and moved days off

This is where employers can get tripped up.

Uzbekistan doesn’t rely only on the fixed holiday list in the Labor Code. The government can also issue an annual decree that adds extra non-working days and transfers weekend days to create longer breaks. For 2026, the presidential decree added January 2, May 28, May 29, and August 31 as extra non-working days for all workers, plus certain additional days for employees on a six-day workweek.

The same decree also confirmed the transfer of days off for five-day schedules when a holiday overlaps with a weekend. In 2026, that affects March 9, March 23, and May 11.

Why does this matter for you?

• Your payroll calendar may need adjusting. If a payroll cutoff, approval cycle, or payment file lands near one of these extended breaks, you may need to move internal deadlines forward.
• Your customer-facing coverage may need extra planning. A holiday that turns into a long weekend can create a wider coverage gap than your team expects.
• Your employment docs and internal guidance should match reality. If your employee handbook or local onboarding notes only list the fixed Labor Code holidays, they may miss the extra non-working days that affect real operations in 2026.

This is why annual review matters. The legal framework stays stable, but the working calendar can still move around it.

What employers should watch during the year

Even with a solid holiday calendar, there are a few things worth checking before you lock schedules.

First, treat religious holiday dates as official only once they are formally confirmed. Uzbekistan’s Labor Code makes the first day of Ramadan Hayit and Qurbon Hayit a public holiday, but the exact dates are confirmed by a separate announcement. For 2026, Ramadan Hayit has already been confirmed as March 20. Qurbon Hayit should still be checked against the latest official notice before you finalize staffing or payroll assumptions.

Second, pay attention to the schedule type. The 2026 decree doesn’t affect every employee in exactly the same way. Some additional days apply to all workers, while others apply to employees on a six-day work week. If your Uzbekistan team includes different working situations, you need to map the calendar to the correct schedule instead of using one blanket rule.

Third, remember that continuous operations are treated differently in some cases. The Labor Code says that when work cannot be paused because of production or service needs, the normal transfer of a day off does not always apply the same way. That matters for round-the-clock operations, customer service teams, and certain logistics or industrial roles.

Compliance tips

If you want fewer surprises with payroll, scheduling, and holiday-work pay in Uzbekistan, start with the basics. Keep the current Labor Code holiday list on hand, review the annual government decree for added non-working days, and double-check any religious holiday dates before you finalize staffing plans. It also helps to align your payroll approvals a little earlier around long holiday periods, so your team is not rushing payment files at the last minute.

A few habits go a long way:

• Review the annual calendar early. Extra non-working days and shifted rest days can change coverage and payroll timing.
• Document holiday-work decisions clearly. If someone works on a holiday, note whether you are paying the double rate or granting a substitute rest day at the employee’s request.
• Match the rule to the work schedule. Five-day and six-day workweeks are not always treated the same way under the annual decree.

How an Employer of Record (EOR) can help

An employer of record is a third party that legally employs your team member in Uzbekistan 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 helps you stay ahead of holiday issues

When you hire in Uzbekistan, the holiday calendar is more than just an HR footnote. It affects when people are off, when work can legally happen, how that work must be paid, and whether your payroll process needs a last-minute shift.

There’s a lot else 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.

Your hiring managers keep moving, your finance team gets fewer surprises, and your employee experience stays cleaner because local holiday handling is built into the operating model from the start.

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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