Mark your calendars: These are Singapore's 2020 public holidays

If you're done planning your 2019 vacations and already thinking about what holidays to look forward to in 2020, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has today announced Singapore's list of 2020 public holidays.

There will be seven long weekends in total (in red), with four public holidays falling on a Friday and three on a Sunday.

The full list is as follows:

• Wednesday, 1 January 2020 - New Year's Day
• Saturday, 25 January 2020 - Chinese New Year day 1
• Sunday, 26 January 2020 - Chinese New Year day 2
• Friday, 10 April 2020 - Good Friday
• Friday, 1 May 2020 - Labour Day
• Thursday, 7 May 2020 - Vesak Day
• Sunday, 24 May 2020 - Hari Raya Puasa
• Friday, 31 July 2020 - Hari Raya Haji
• Sunday, 9 August 2020 - National Day
• Saturday, 14 November 2020 - Deepavali
• Friday, 25 December 2020 - Christmas Day

Note:

• Where the public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be a paid public holiday in lieu if your rest day falls on that Sunday. 

• If on a 5-day work week, Saturday would be considered a non-working day. For a public holiday that falls on a Saturday, there should be either a day off or salary in lieu.

With that in mind, as per the ministry's guidelines, HR should take note of the following staff entitlements:

Holiday pay entitlement

Employees are entitled to their gross rate pay on a public holiday in the following instances:

• They were not absent on the working day immediately before or after a holiday without consent or a reasonable excuse.
• They were on authorised leave (e.g. sick leave, annual leave, unpaid leave) on the day immediately before or after a holiday.

However, employees are not entitled to this holiday pay if the holiday falls on the day of their approved unpaid leave.

Public holidays falling on a rest day or non-working day

In accordance with the Employment Act, if a public holiday falls on a non-working day, staff are entitled to another day off or one extra day's salary in lieu of the public holiday at the gross rate of pay.

For example, if employees work a five-day  work week, Saturday will be considered their non-working day. In the event a public holidays falls on a Saturday, they should either get a day off or salary in lieu.

Entitlement for staff are according to their employment contract if they are not covered by the Act.

For more information on staff entitlement, refer to MOM's full set of guidelines here.

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