HR & Payroll Recruiting Benefits: A Guide to Public Holidays in Bangladesh

Employees are generally entitle to 11 – 15 days of festival holidays with pay. The public holidays are determined by the employer. Employees may be required to work on a festival holiday, but shall receive 2 compensatory paid holidays and a substitute holiday.

There are two types of public holidays available for workers under the act which are:

1. Festival holidays
2. Weekly holidays

Festival holidays:

Every worker will get 11 (eleven) days of paid festival holiday in a calendar year. In case of working on any festival holiday, a worker will get two day’s additional compensatory holidays with full pay and a substitute holiday.

Public Holidays With Weekly:

To maintain strict payroll compliance, employers must ensure workers are paid their full-time daily wage on public holidays, including any dearness allowance and ad-hoc pay, but excluding overtime and bonuses.

1. one and a half days holiday for the shop, commercial establishment or industrial establishment and in a factory and  establishment one day in a week;
2. can claim in each week one day’s holiday of twenty-four consecutive hours if he works for road transport service, and no deduction on account of such holidays shall be made from the wages of any such worker.

Every worker is allowed in a calendar year eleven days of paid festival holidays. Some of the public holidays in Bangladesh are of religious nature while others are of memorial nature. Public holidays in Bangladesh may include Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH-12th of Rabi ul Awwal), Language
Martyrs’ Day (February 21), Independence Day (March 26), Bangla New Year’s Day (April 14), May Day (May 1st), Buddha Purnima Day (determined by the traditional lunar calendar), Shab-e-Barat, Lailat-ul-Qadr, , Eid-ul-Fitr (End of Islamic month Ramadan-3 days), National Mourning Day (August 15) Krishna Janamashtami (August 17), Vijaya Dasami/Durga Pooja, Eid ul-Adha (10th of Islamic Month ZilHaj- 3 days), Ashoora (10th of Muharram), Victory Day (December 16) and Christmas Day (December 25).

Recognized National and Public Holidays in Bangladesh

• • January 10: Bangabandhu Homecoming Day Observance

  • February 21: Language Martyrs’ Day / International Mother Language Day

  • March 17: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Birthday

  • March 26: Independence Day

  • April 14: Bengali New Year (Pahela Baishakh)

  • May 1: May Day (International Workers’ Day)

  • August 15: National Mourning Day

  • December 16: Victory Day

  • December 25: Christmas Day

Variable & Religious Holidays (Dates Vary Annually based on the Lunar Calendar)

• Shab-e-Barat

• Shab-e-Qadr

• Eid ul-Fitr (Typically a 3-day holiday)

• Eid ul-Adha (Typically a 3-day holiday)

• Ashura

• Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi

• Buddha Purnima

• Janmashtami

• Durga Puja (Vijaya Dasami)