How many paid public holidays you get in Germany is not a national question — it is a Bundesland lottery. Depending on the federal state where you work, you receive between 10 and 14 paid public holidays per year — and the state that counts is the state of your workplace, not your residence. An office worker in Augsburg enjoys up to four more paid days off per year than a colleague in Hamburg doing the same job for the same company. Add two widespread misconceptions — that working on a holiday triggers a statutory pay premium (it does not), and that a holiday falling on a Saturday is somehow compensated (it is not) — and it is worth understanding the system properly, especially if you can influence where your contractual place of work is.
The state-by-state count
Nine holidays apply nationwide: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, German Unity Day (3 October), and 25/26 December. Everything else is state law, and the pattern is broadly: Catholic south rich, Protestant north poor, east in between. The approximate counts (states occasionally add holidays, so treat this as the current landscape):
- Bavaria: 12–13 — plus Epiphany, Corpus Christi and All Saints’ Day everywhere; Assumption Day (15 August) additionally in predominantly Catholic municipalities, which is most of them. Augsburg: 14, thanks to its unique local Peace Festival (Friedensfest, 8 August) — the German record.
- Baden-Württemberg and Saarland: 12.
- NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate: 11 — the nationwide nine plus Corpus Christi and All Saints’ Day.
- Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: 11 — with eastern specialities such as Repentance Day (Saxony), Epiphany (Saxony-Anhalt), World Children’s Day (Thuringia) and International Women’s Day (MV, since 2023).
- Berlin: 10 — including International Women’s Day (8 March, since 2019).
- Hamburg, Bremen, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, Hessen: 10 — the northern states added Reformation Day (31 October) in 2018; Hessen adds Corpus Christi instead.
Holidays never consume your vacation: working days are all calendar days that are neither Sundays nor public holidays (§ 3(2) BUrlG) — a holiday inside your vacation block means one day fewer deducted (see vacation days entitlement).
Which state’s holidays apply to you: the place of work
The Arbeitsortprinzip governs: the public-holiday law of the place where the work is actually performed applies. Your residence is irrelevant. Live in Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate, All Saints’ is a holiday), work in Frankfurt (Hessen, it is not): on 1 November you work. The reverse commute gets the day off.
Remote work adds a genuine wrinkle: if you work from home, your home office is the place of performance for that day — so a Berlin-based remote employee of a Munich company follows the Berlin calendar (and gets 8 March off, while Munich colleagues work), but does not get Bavarian All Saints’. Hybrid workers’ calendars can switch with their location. Sensible employers regulate this in the contract or works agreement; if yours is silent, the actual-place-of-performance rule applies — clarify in writing before the first disputed holiday.
Pay on holidays: § 2 EFZG and the Entgeltausfallprinzip
For work that is lost because of a public holiday, the employer must pay the remuneration you would have earned had the holiday not intervened (§ 2(1) EFZG — the same loss-of-pay principle as in Entgeltfortzahlung for sickness). Consequences worth knowing:
- Shift workers: paid only if you were actually scheduled (or would have been scheduled) to work that day. A rota that conspicuously routes your free days onto holidays to avoid holiday pay is manipulation and challengeable.
- Variable pay: the calculation includes the supplements and average variable components you would have earned — not just base salary.
- Sick on a holiday: you receive holiday pay under § 2 EFZG, not sick pay — relevant because it does not consume your six-week Entgeltfortzahlung budget.
Working on a holiday: allowed for some — premium for nobody (by statute)
§ 9 ArbZG prohibits employing workers on Sundays and public holidays from midnight to midnight. § 10 ArbZG then lists the exceptions — hospitals and care, hospitality and gastronomy, emergency services, transport, energy, agriculture, media, security, trade fairs and more. In an exempted sector, holiday work can be lawfully assigned (within your contract); otherwise it cannot. The framework mirrors Sunday work — see weekend work — and the substitute rest day (Ersatzruhetag) owed within eight weeks for holiday work (§ 11(3) ArbZG) sits alongside the general limits in maximum working hours.
Now the surprise: there is no statutory pay premium for holiday work. The ArbZG grants time (the substitute rest day), not money. Holiday surcharges come exclusively from collective agreements, works agreements, your contract, or established company practice (betriebliche Übung). In practice they are near-universal in sectors that work holidays — typically 100% to 150% on top of base pay, with 125–150% common for the „high” holidays. Surcharges for holiday work are tax- and contribution-free up to 125% of base pay (150% for 25/26 December and 1 May) on an hourly base of up to €50 (§ 3b EStG).
Holiday on a weekend: the day is simply lost
Germany has no substitute-day rule. If 1 May falls on a Saturday, employees who don’t work Saturdays get nothing — unlike the UK bank-holiday system, where the holiday moves to Monday. Some collective agreements grant compensation; statute does not. The result: the real value of a year’s holidays swings noticeably depending on how many land on weekdays.
Strategic Brückentage planning
Because several German holidays are weekday-fixed, bridge days (Brückentage) deliver outsized returns — file them early, as approvals run first-come in most teams:
| Holiday | Weekday | Bridge move | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascension Day | Always Thursday | Take the Friday | 4 days off for 1 vacation day |
| Corpus Christi (BW, BY, HE, NRW, RP, SL) | Always Thursday | Take the Friday | 4 for 1 |
| 1 May / 3 October / All Saints’ | Varies | In Tue/Thu years, bridge Mon/Fri | 4 for 1 |
| Christmas + New Year | Varies | Bridge 27–30 December | Up to 9–10 days off for 3–4 vacation days |
| Easter–Whitsun corridor | Fixed structure | Good Friday to Easter Monday is free; add 4 days for a 10-day block | 10 for 4 |
Worked example
Two software engineers at the same employer, identical gross salary €72,000 (€6,000/month, ~€277 per working day). Anna’s contractual place of work is Augsburg (14 holidays), Ben’s is Hamburg (10).
In a year where, say, 12 of Anna’s and 9 of Ben’s holidays fall on weekdays, Anna receives 3 more fully paid days off: implicit value 3 × €277 = ~€830 per year — every year, on top of identical vacation.
Second scenario: hotel receptionist in Cologne, €16/hour, works 8 hours on Easter Monday and 8 hours on 1 May under a collective agreement granting 135% holiday surcharge (150% on 1 May). Easter Monday: €128 base + €172.80 surcharge; 1 May: €128 + €192. The surcharges (within the § 3b EStG thresholds) are tax- and contribution-free — €364.80 net on top of taxed base pay for the two days, plus two substitute rest days within eight weeks under § 11(3) ArbZG. When her employer paid the base hours but „forgot” the substitute rest days, a written demand citing § 11(3) ArbZG produced them within a fortnight.
Frequently asked questions
Do I get extra pay for working on a public holiday?
Not by statute — the law grants a substitute rest day, not money. Surcharges come from your collective agreement, works agreement, contract or established company practice. Since consistent, unreserved payment over years can create a binding betriebliche Übung, check what colleagues have historically received before accepting „we don’t pay premiums”.
A holiday falls on Saturday — do I get a day in lieu?
No. German law has no carry-over for weekend holidays. The day is lost unless a collective or works agreement says otherwise (a few do — check yours).
I work remotely from a different state than my employer. Whose holidays apply?
The holidays of the place where you actually perform the work that day — your home-office location, not the company seat. If your contract or works agreement fixes a different arrangement, that governs within limits. Get the rule in writing before a contested holiday, and keep it consistent with how your working time is recorded.
Can my employer order me to work on a public holiday?
Only if your sector falls under a § 10 ArbZG exception (or an official authorization exists) and your contract covers such work. In an ordinary office job, holiday work is simply prohibited by § 9 ArbZG — an instruction to work it is unlawful and you may refuse.
Does a public holiday during my vacation cost me a vacation day?
No. Vacation is granted in working days, and public holidays are not working days (§ 3(2) BUrlG). If your employer’s system deducted a vacation day for a holiday, have the account corrected — errors here are common with international HR systems configured for other countries’ rules.