Public Holidays

Why the Holiday List Matters

Public holidays affect payroll in two ways:

1. Pay rate — hours worked on a public holiday are paid at the holiday rate configured per employee (or the global default from Settings). The system can only apply this rate if the date is in the holiday list.
2. Leave day counting — when an employee submits a leave request, the system counts only working days within the range. A public holiday that falls within the leave period is not counted as a leave day deducted from the employee's balance.

How Holiday Tagging Works

When a clocking event is saved — whether from the iOS app or entered manually — the system checks the clocking date against the holiday list. If the date matches a holiday, the clocking record is tagged with the Holiday day type. This tag is then used during payslip generation to apply the correct rate.

Managing the Holiday List

Adding a Holiday

1. Click Add Holiday.
2. Enter the Date.
3. Enter a Name (e.g. "Workers' Day", "Heritage Day"). The name is for reference only — it appears in reports and the clocking log.
4. Click Save.

Editing a Holiday

You can correct the name or date of a holiday at any time. If you change the date after clockings have already been tagged, those clockings are not automatically updated — see the gotcha above.

Deleting a Holiday

Deleting a holiday removes it from the list. It does not change the day type tags on existing clocking records. Clockings that were tagged as Holiday will remain tagged as Holiday even after the holiday entry is deleted.

South African Public Holidays

South Africa has 12 fixed public holidays under the Public Holidays Act. Where a holiday falls on a Sunday, it is observed on the following Monday. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, there is no automatic substitute day — employees still work, and Saturday rates apply unless the day is specifically configured as a holiday. Add the actual observed date in the system, not just the calendar date.