Last updated on January 17, 2024.

Public Holidays in Bermuda for 2024

PTO

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

An employee is entitled to a period of two weeks annual vacation leave after he/she has completed— the first year of continuous employment, and each subsequent year of continuous employment.

An employee who has completed the first six months of continuous employment is entitled to a period of one week’s vacation leave, but where such leave is taken prior to the completion of the first year of continuous employment, the leave so taken will be deducted from the period of annual vacation leave to which the employee is entitled.

An employee is entitled to a week’s wages for each week of his/her vacation which will be paid in advance of the vacation.

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Leave cannot be accumulated

• PTO payout at the termination

Where an employee’s contract of employment is terminated, his/her employer is required to pay any wages and other remuneration and benefits which accrued at the date of termination and such payment must be made within seven days of termination or at the next interval at which the employee would have been paid if the contract of employment had not been terminated, which ever period is the longer.

Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Ante-Natal Care

Maternity Leave

 A female employee is entitled to maternity leave if she provides her employer with a certificate of a registered medical practitioner certifying that she is pregnant and specifying the estimated date of the birth and submits to the employer an application for maternity leave at least four weeks before the day she specifies as the day on which she intends to commence her leave.

An employee who has completed at least one year of continuous employment or will have done so by the expected date of delivery is entitled to a period of 13 weeks of paid leave.

In any other case, an employee is entitled to a period of 13 weeks of unpaid leave.

An employee who has taken a period of maternity leave is required to notify her employer at least two weeks in advance of the date on which she intends to resume work. If the employee fails to notify her employer is taken to have terminated her employment.

Ante-Natal Care

Employees are no longer required to complete one year of employment before being entitled to paid time off from work to attend prenatal appointments.

Paternity Leave

An employee is entitled to be absent from work to care for a child or support the child’s mother if he is the father of the child; and submits to his employer— a certificate of a registered medical practitioner certifying that the child’s mother is pregnant and the estimated date of the child’s birth; and an application for paternity leave at least four weeks before the day he specifies as the day on which he intends to commence his leave.

Employees who have completed a year of continuous service with the employer are entitled to 5 days of paid leave. If they have not completed a period of a year, they are entitled to 5 days of unpaid leave.

Sick Leave

An employee who has completed at least one year of continuous employment is entitled to be paid at his normal hourly wage in respect of eight days per year when he is unable to work due to sickness or injury.

An employee is not entitled to be paid in respect of a period of two or more consecutive days unless, where his employer so requests, the employee provides the employer with a certificate from a registered medical practitioner certifying that the practitioner has examined the employee and determined that he is unable to work due to sickness or injury.

Jury Duty Leave and Voting Leave

Jury Duty Leave

An employer is required to permit an employee who has been summoned for jury service or summoned to attend court as a witness to take such time off during his working hours as is necessary to discharge his duty.

Voting Leave

An employer is required to permit an employee to take such time off during his working hours as is necessary for him to vote in a parliamentary election.

Employees who have completed at least one year of continuous employment are entitled to be paid at their normal hourly wage for the time taken off, but where the employees receive any payment in connection with their duties, the employer is entitled to deduct the equivalent amount from any wages.

Bereavement Leave

All employees are entitled to unpaid time off in the event of the death of a member of their ‘immediate family’ or to attend an overseas funeral for such an individual. The Amended Act, which came into force on June the 1st 2021, broadens the definition of ‘immediate family’ to include a sibling, grandparent, great-grandparent, grandchild, or great-grandchild. Previously, it only included a spouse, child, or parent.

Military Leave

• Not specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Bermuda Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.