Public holidays for household staff by canton, 2026 and 2027

A day off is not always a paid day

A canton's list says on which days work stops. It does not say who pays for the day. Federal law makes 1 August a paid public holiday for every employee.

A Helper paid by the hour is paid for another public holiday only where the canton's standard contract says so. The study counts this for Basel-Stadt, Fribourg, Schaffhausen and Valais. In Schaffhausen the standard contract has the household pay the wage that falls on public holidays, for a Helper paid by the hour together with the hourly wage (NAV SHR 221.216 § 25 Abs. 1 und 3). That provision names neither a number nor the days. The canton's law on public rest days lists 9 (SHR 900.200 Art. 1 Abs. 1 lit. b); the reading that never underpays is that the household pays all of them, so the study counts 9 and marks them unverified. The contract's rule on days off (NAV SHR 221.216 § 17 Abs. 2) does name a number, “An acht der folgenden Feiertage ist den Arbeitnehmenden, die an diesen Tagen einen Arbeitseinsatz haben, zusätzlich ein freier Tag zu gewähren: Neujahr, Karfreitag, Ostersonntag, Ostermontag, 1. Mai, Auffahrt, Pfingstsonntag, Pfingstmontag, 1. August, Weihnachtstag und Stephanstag.” That rule gives a Helper who works on such a holiday an extra day off in lieu; it is not pay for a day off. In Valais the household pays its 9 holidays unless one falls on a Sunday (CTT RS 221.602 art. 14 al. 1), so 8 in 2026 and 7 in 2027. The days left out fall on a Sunday: 1 November in 2026, 1 August and 15 August in 2027. Ticino's standard contract also names paid public holidays, but its current text could not be read, so the study marks them unverified; the reading that never underpays is that the household pays them. Fribourg's standard contract gives Sundays and the legal public holidays off and gives a right to the wage for those days off (CTT RSF 222.5.91 art. 9 al. 1 et 7), “Les congés au sens de la présente disposition donnent droit au paiement du salaire et ne peuvent être imputés sur la durée des vacances.” It does not say how this applies to a Helper paid by the hour, so the study counts the 9 holidays of the part of the canton where the Helper works and marks them unverified, with the same reading: the household pays them. In the other cantons a public holiday on a usual working day is a day without work and without wage, unless the contract agrees otherwise.

On a monthly wage, the household's employment contract, which Helpore prepares from the details the household enters, keeps the month whole: a public holiday on an agreed working day reduces neither the hours nor the wage. Federal law says this for 1 August; the standard contracts of Basel-Stadt, Geneva, Schaffhausen and Valais say it for the holidays they list. Ticino's standard contract names paid holidays too, but its current text could not be read, so this point is unverified there. Under Fribourg's standard contract the days off it gives, the legal holidays among them, carry the wage (CTT RSF 222.5.91 art. 9 al. 1 et 7). For the other cantons the study read the lists of public holidays, not every standard contract; so for those cantons the contract states the rule.

In Neuchâtel Helpore's price carries a holiday share that follows a worked example of the cantonal employment office; that example is not law. The share is Helpore's choice and is not part of the counts.

Geneva

Geneva keeps 9 public holidays in 2026 and 10 in 2027, because a holiday on a Sunday makes the Monday after it a holiday too. Under the standard contract the household pays a Helper paid by the hour for 1 August only. In 2027 that day falls on a Sunday, so the Monday after it, Monday 2 August 2027, is a public holiday too (LJF rsGE J 1 45 art. 1 al. 2). The standard contract does not say whether a Helper paid by the hour is paid for that Monday; the reading that never underpays is that the household pays it, so the study counts it and marks it unverified. A Helper on a monthly wage loses no wage for it.

Hours worked on a Sunday or a public holiday carry 50 percent more pay, or paid leave increased by the same share, as the Helper chooses. A clause of the household's employment contract, which Helpore prepares from the details the household enters, goes further and keeps every Geneva public holiday paid: 9 days in 2026 and 10 in 2027. That clause is Helpore's choice, not the law.

Fribourg

In Fribourg the holidays depend on the commune where the Helper works. The catholic part and the reformed part, around Murten and Kerzers, each keep 9 days, and some of them apply in both. From Monday to Friday the catholic part has 6 in 2026 and 6 in 2027, the reformed part 7 and 5.

Ticino

No list of Ticino's public rest days is on file. The standard contract for household staff names 9 paid public holidays, a term the parties may waive in writing. Its current text could not be read when we checked, so the study marks the paid days as unverified and counts no list for Ticino.

Method

Every date comes from the dated canton lists the Helpore rules engine holds, each with its official source and the day it was read. Where the official text says more than the engine's list, the study reads the text and quotes it in the source ledger: the contract list of Valais, the two lists of Fribourg and the paid days of Schaffhausen and Geneva.

A working day here is Monday to Friday. A household's contract may set another week: in Vaud, Jura, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Lucerne the standard contract does not guarantee a free Saturday, so a Saturday holiday can fall on a working day too. We show Saturday holidays separately.

The days a Helper paid by the hour is paid for are those of federal law and of the canton's standard contract. A contract may agree more. The clauses of the household's employment contract, which Helpore prepares from the details the household enters, are shown apart.

Limits

• Days a single commune keeps are not in the counts; in Aargau and Fribourg the district and part lists are.
• Schaffhausen's standard contract does not say for which public holidays the household pays; the study counts every day of the canton's law on public rest days and marks the count unverified.
• In Solothurn May Day is a rest day from noon; the list counts the whole day. Some of its holidays do not apply in the district of Bucheggberg.
• This study states the rules as written. It is not legal advice for a single contract.

Data and downloads

The canton file holds every count, every date and its source. The definitions say what each column means.

• Canton data (CSV)
• Source ledger (JSON)
• Data definitions
• Method
• Canton map (SVG)
• File manifest (JSON)