The holiday season brings unique challenges for film, television, and streaming productions. While audiences anticipate festive releases, payroll teams and production accountants are navigating some of the most complex compliance issues of the year: union holiday provisions, worked holiday penalties, and the ripple effects of payroll mistakes. Getting holiday pay right is not only about employee morale, it is also about staying compliant with collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), state wage laws, and benefit fund requirements.

In the entertainment industry, where union contracts govern most crew members, the rules for holiday pay are specific, enforceable, and frequently misunderstood. Below, we’ll break down the essentials for productions and payroll teams to keep in mind as the holidays approach.

Union Holiday Provisions: Who Gets Paid and When

Union CBAs such as the IATSE Basic Agreement, the SAG-AFTRA Basic Agreement, the DGA Basic Agreement, and Teamsters Local 399 agreements all contain provisions for holiday pay. While language varies, the most common provisions include:

• Recognized Holidays: Typically include New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Many agreements add additional holidays, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day or a day after Thanksgiving.
• Unworked Holiday Pay: Employees receive a full day’s pay when a recognized holiday falls within their workweek, even if no work is performed that day.
• Holiday on a Non-Workday: Some agreements stipulate that if a holiday falls on a crew member’s “sixth or seventh day,” an additional day’s pay or deferred holiday may apply.
• Weekly vs. Daily Employees: Weekly employees generally receive the holiday pay as part of their weekly guarantee, while daily employees often receive a separate paid holiday if they were employed on both the day before and the day after the holiday.

These distinctions make it crucial for payroll teams to know not only which holiday applies, but also how employment status and call patterns affect eligibility.

Worked Holiday Penalties: Double Time, Triple Time, and Beyond

When productions schedule work on a recognized holiday, the penalties are steep.

• IATSE: Typically requires double time for the first eight hours worked on a holiday and triple time thereafter.
• SAG-AFTRA: Similar provisions, with additional rules for background actors and specific schedules.
• DGA: Holiday work may trigger premium pay as well as additional rest-period obligations.
• Teamsters 399: Certain crafts have unique rules for turnaround and premium stacking when holidays overlap with extended workweeks.

These provisions can lead to dramatically higher payroll costs if productions do not plan carefully. A crew member making $50 per hour at straight time could suddenly cost $150 per hour on a worked holiday.

Common Mistakes Productions Make

Even experienced payroll accountants can stumble during the holiday season. Some of the most frequent mistakes include:

• Misclassifying Employment Status: Forgetting that daily hires have different eligibility rules than weekly hires. A daily employee who works only one day the week of Thanksgiving may not be entitled to the same holiday pay as a weekly employee.
• Failing to Apply Holiday Penalties: Treating a holiday like a regular workday and only applying overtime rules, rather than the required double or triple time.
• Ignoring “Bookend” Requirements: Many CBAs require that a daily employee be employed both the day before and the day after a holiday to qualify for unworked holiday pay. Productions often miss this nuance.
• Stacking Errors: Forgetting that holiday penalties can stack with other provisions, such as night premiums or golden hours, leading to underpayment.
• Late Payments: State wage laws, such as California’s requirement that wages earned on a holiday must still be paid on time, do not allow productions to delay processing because a payroll office was closed.

Each of these errors not only impacts employee morale but also opens the door to grievances, penalties, and costly benefit recalculations.

Best Practices for Productions and Payroll Teams

To navigate holiday pay smoothly, productions should:

1. Review CBA Provisions in Advance: Before scheduling holiday shoots, confirm which holidays are recognized under the applicable agreements. Do not assume they are uniform across unions.
2. Communicate Early with Crew: Transparency about holiday work expectations and pay rates reduces confusion and potential disputes.
3. Audit Employment Status: Double-check whether employees are daily or weekly hires and confirm eligibility for holiday pay.
4. Account for Penalties in Budgets: Productions should budget conservatively for holiday work, assuming worst-case penalty scenarios.
5. Coordinate with Payroll Companies: Ensure that the payroll provider understands how to apply union holiday provisions, particularly when multiple CBAs apply simultaneously.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

The holiday season is also audit season. Benefit funds such as the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plans (MPIPHP) and the IATSE National Benefit Funds (NBF) frequently flag holiday weeks for review. Underpayments tied to holidays can create cascading liabilities, including unpaid fringes, underreported hours, and retroactive contributions with interest and penalties.

For productions competing in today’s fast-paced streaming market, mishandling holiday pay does not just risk grievances. It damages relationships with crew and unions, threatens compliance standing, and can slow down tight release schedules.

Final Takeaway

Holiday pay in entertainment payroll is not a seasonal afterthought. It is a compliance priority. Productions that take the time to understand union provisions, calculate worked holiday penalties correctly, and avoid common mistakes can save themselves from grievances, audits, and inflated costs. For payroll teams, this is the time of year to double down on diligence, communication, and cross-checking every rule in the book.



When done right, holiday pay ensures compliance, protects budgets, and helps productions enter the new year on the right foot.