One more day in the year… and more money on your pay slip? Unfortunately, most employees are not paid more in a leap year than in another. For those who work a 35-hour week (or more), the salary is monthly to smooth out the differences in working days each month. It is calculated based on the number of hours multiplied by 52 weeks and divided by 12 months. This also makes it possible to affect the month of February as much as the other months, even though it is the shortest month of the year.
For employees on the day package, whose number of annual working days is fixed by the employment contract and a company agreement, no extra money either, but perhaps one less working day. The operation of this package is based on a simple calculation: the number of days of the year from which we subtract the number of weekend days, the number of public holidays falling on weekdays, the number of paid holidays and the number of days actual work planned.
The result corresponds to the number of additional days of rest granted to the employee. With one more day in the year (366 instead of 365), we are more likely to have additional rest, but this is not necessarily the case. With most public holidays falling on weekdays in 2024, the number of days off may already be lower than in previous years. Some company agreements provide for a minimum number of days of rest, granted even if the calculation mentioned above gives a result below this threshold.
The only ones who benefit from February 29 are, obviously, hourly employees. With one more day this year, they will work more hours and will see it on their pay slip. But these employees are often paid less in February, because it is in this shortest month of the year that they work the fewest hours.
