Panama: Work Schedules and Holidays

Hours of Work

The standard workday is eight hours, with the standard workweek up to 48 hours. Night work (work shifts between 6 pm and 6 am) is limited to seven hours per day and 42 hours per week. A mixed-shift workweek is seven and a half hours, up to 45 hours per week.

Night and mixed-shift work are paid as a standard eight-hour workday. The rate of overtime pay depends on whether it is during the standard workday (25% above the pay rate) or at night (50% above the pay rate). Employers cannot ask employees to work overtime except in certain industries or situations, such as in agriculture or in emergency situations. In the circumstances where overtime is permitted, it cannot exceed three hours per day or nine hours per week. Those working on a national public holiday are paid at double the normal pay rate by the employer.

Normal daytime workdays run 6 am to 6 pm. Sunday is usually the weekly day of rest. Most shops and shopping centers are open from 9 am to 6 pm daily. Some shops remain open until 10 pm.

  • General office hours are similar to those of other Latin American countries: from 8 am to noon, and from 2 to 5 or 6 pm.
  • Government administration offices are open weekdays from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.

 

Vacation and Leave

Workers are eligible for 30 days of vacation following 11 months of uninterrupted work, or one day for every 11 days of work. One weekly day of rest (usually Sunday) is compulsory for every employee. An employer may not pay out vacation time as cash except at the end of a work contract. Employees may split their vacation into a maximum of two periods.

Women are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave, fully paid by the social security system and not by the employer. These benefits should be requested at least one month before the intended beginning of the leave.

The government of Panama has recently enforced a law that grants three days of paternity leave to the fathers of a newborn. Valid for both public and private employees, the law requires fathers to show the corresponding official birth certificate of their new child.

 

Public Holidays

Panama has several paid national holidays, and the day of a president's inauguration (Día de toma de posesión del presidente) is also a paid holiday. However, there are several other festivities that are considered national celebrations but are not always included in the national paid work holiday calendar, such as January 6, which is Día de los Reyes (Magi Day), and August 15, which is Fundación de Panamá La Vieja (Foundation Day of Historical Panama).

The month of November, in particular, is filled with patriotic festivities (Mes de la Patria or Patriotic Month) marking Panama's independence from Spain and Colombia. If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, it will be observed on Monday.

Paid Public Holidays in Panama

  • January 1 – New Year's Day/Año Nuevo
  • January 9 – Martyrs' Day/Día de los mártires
  • February/March – Carnival Tuesday/Martes de Carnaval
  • March/April – Easter holidays: Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday/Pascua: Viernes y Sábado Santos y Domingo de Resurrección
  • May 1 – Labor Day/Día del Trabajador
  • November 3 – Colombia Independence Day/Independencia de Colombia
  • November 4 – Flag Day/Día de la Bandera
  • November 5 – Colón Province Separation Movement/Movimiento de separación en Colón
  • November 10 – First Cry of Independence from Spain/Primer grito de independencia de España
  • November 28 – Panama Independence Day/Independencia de Panamá (from Spain)
  • December 8 – Mother's Day/Día de la madre
  • December 25 – Christmas Day/Navidad