Peru observes 16 mandatory national holidays in 2026, and Decreto Legislativo 713 requires employers to pay triple wages, one day’s pay already embedded in salary plus a full day’s wage plus a 100% surcharge, for every hour an employee works on one of them. This guide opens with the complete 2026 date list, then covers the legal framework behind it, the días no laborables that apply only to the public sector, the triple-pay calculation, Fiestas Patrias planning, and a year-round compliance checklist.
| Date | Day of Week | Holiday Name (English) | Paid/Mandatory Status | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 | Thursday | New Year’s Day | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Apr 2 | Thursday | Holy Thursday | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Apr 3 | Friday | Good Friday | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| May 1 | Friday | Labour Day | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Jun 7 | Sunday | Battle of Arica & Flag Day | Mandatory (paid) | Ley No. 31788 |
| Jun 29 | Monday | Saint Peter and Saint Paul | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Jul 23 | Thursday | Peruvian Air Force Day | Mandatory (paid) | Ley No. 31822 |
| Jul 28 | Tuesday | Independence Day | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Jul 29 | Wednesday | Fiestas Patrias Celebration | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Aug 6 | Thursday | Battle of Junín | Mandatory (paid) | Ley No. 31530 |
| Aug 30 | Sunday | Saint Rose of Lima (Santa Rosa de Lima) | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Oct 8 | Thursday | Battle of Angamos (Batalla de Angamos) | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Nov 1 | Sunday | All Saints’ Day | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Dec 8 | Tuesday | Immaculate Conception | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
| Dec 9 | Wednesday | Battle of Ayacucho | Mandatory (paid) | Ley No. 31381 |
| Dec 25 | Friday | Christmas Day | Mandatory (paid) | DL 713, Art. 6 |
Total: 16 mandatory national holidays, thirteen falling on weekdays and three on Sundays, under the legal basis set out in DL 713 Article 6 and the four laws that expanded the list since 2021. Seven land on Thursdays or Tuesdays, creating textbook bridge-day configurations. Every date carries mandatory paid status under DL 713: the holiday wage is already embedded in salary, and any hours worked on the date trigger the 100% surcharge described later in this guide.
How Should Employers Plan by Quarter?
Each quarter carries a different holiday-planning risk, from near-zero disruption in February and March to a near-total shutdown in the last week of July.
Q1: New Year’s Day falls on Thursday. Friday January 2 is a día no laborable for the public sector under DS 042-2025-PCM, which private employers may adopt by agreement, so the week can close after January 1. February and March carry zero feriados, offering strong sprint velocity.
Q2: Semana Santa (Apr 2-3) creates a four-day weekend. Easter dates shift annually, landing on Mar 25-26 in 2027. May 1 falls on Friday, a natural three-day weekend. June has two holidays spanning Sunday and Monday.
Q3: July is the most disruptive month. Three feriados land on Jul 23, 28 and 29, and Monday Jul 27 is a día no laborable under DS 075-2026-PCM. A team that adopts Jul 27 has one working day between Jul 23 and Jul 29, Friday Jul 24. A team that does not has two. Aug 6 (Thursday) carries no declared bridge day. September carries zero feriados, peak availability for major releases.
Q4: Oct 8 falls on Thursday with no declared bridge day beside it. The year-end cluster puts Dec 8, 9 and 25 within an 18-day span. December 2026 holds 23 weekdays, so those three feriados leave 20 working days, and no día no laborable has been declared for December. December bridge days have shrunk with every decree: five in 2024 (Dec 6, 23, 24, 30, 31), one in 2025 (Dec 26), none so far in 2026.
Which 2026 Holidays Fall on Weekends?
Three of Peru’s 16 holidays fall on Sunday in 2026: Jun 7, Aug 30, and Nov 1. Peru does not operate a general substitute-Monday transfer rule. For Monday-through-Friday teams, these reduce effective lost weekday productivity from 16 to 13 holidays. For weekend workers, common among DevOps engineers and on-call rotation participants, the day still costs triple if it is worked without a substitute rest day, and nothing extra if it is rested.
Why Do Peru’s Holidays Create Payroll Complexity for Employers?
Peru mandates 16 national holidays in 2026, more than Mexico’s 7 or the US’s 11 federal holidays, and every one triggers pay obligations under Decreto Legislativo 713. The legal employer, whether an EOR, staffing agency, or subsidiary, must calculate the correct premium or risk SUNAFIL fines.
Peru’s 16 mandatory holidays sit close to Colombia’s 19 for 2026, after Ley 2578 de 2026 added the Día de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Chiquinquirá (Jul 9, observed Monday Jul 13), and match Argentina’s 16 feriados nacionales, to which Argentina adds three días no laborables con fines turísticos declared by Resolución 164/2025 of the Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros (March 23, July 10, and December 7). Mexico’s Ley Federal del Trabajo, Article 74, sets 7 days of descanso obligatorio for 2026. Peru’s own framework operates on two parallel tracks: nationally mandated feriados and separately declared días no laborables. The two carry different obligations, and only the first binds private employers.
What Does Decreto Legislativo 713 Require?
Decreto Legislativo No. 713, enacted November 8, 1991, defines which days are mandatory paid holidays and what employers owe workers called in on those days. Every private-sector worker in Peru falls under this law regardless of nationality, contract type, or industry. Article 6 creates the closed list of feriados. Articles 8 and 9 define the premium compensation formula for holiday work. The implementing regulation, Decreto Supremo No. 012-92-TR, adds operational detail, including substitute rest day procedures and payroll calculation mechanics. This is the same law an Employer of Record in Peru must administer on the employer’s behalf.
Four amendments between 2021 and 2023 pushed Peru’s holiday count from 12 to 16. Ley No. 31381 added Battle of Ayacucho (Dec 9). Ley No. 31530 added Battle of Junín (Aug 6). Ley No. 31788 added Battle of Arica & Flag Day (Jun 7). Ley No. 31822 added Peruvian Air Force Day (Jul 23).
How Do Dias No Laborables Differ From Official Holidays in Peru?
Días no laborables bind only the public sector, while feriados under DL 713 bind every private employer. These are government-declared non-working days issued by Supreme Decree. Private employers may adopt them voluntarily; no legal obligation compels them to do so. Public-sector employees who receive these days off must compensate for the missed hours, typically by adding an extra hour to subsequent workdays. Each declaring decree spells out this compensatory mechanism.
The recent record runs downward. DS 151-2022-PCM, published in El Peruano on December 29, 2022, declared seven días no laborables for 2023. DS 011-2024-PCM, published February 1, 2024, declared seven for 2024: July 26, October 7, and December 6, 23, 24, 30 and 31. DS 042-2025-PCM, published April 3, 2025, cut the count to three, covering May 2 and December 26 of 2025 and January 2 of 2026. For 2026 itself, DS 075-2026-PCM, published May 16, 2026, declared a single day, Monday July 27, and its Article 4 sets the private-sector rule in these terms: “Los centros de trabajo del sector privado pueden acogerse a lo dispuesto en el presente Decreto Supremo, previo acuerdo entre el empleador y sus trabajadores, quienes deben establecer la forma como se hace efectiva la recuperación de las horas dejadas de laborar; a falta de acuerdo, decide el empleador.” A private employer may adopt the day by agreement with its workers, who then set how the missed hours are made up, and the employer decides if no agreement is reached. Two días no laborables therefore stand for 2026: Friday January 2 and Monday July 27.
What Do Employers Get Wrong About Peru Holiday Compliance?
Four mistakes account for most of the compliance risk employers carry into a Peru payroll cycle.
Mistake 1: Treating días no laborables as mandatory for private-sector staff. Granting these days as paid time off without a compensatory-hours policy creates an entitlement expectation that becomes difficult to retract.
Mistake 2: Failing to apply the 100% surcharge when employees work on a mandatory holiday. Not paying remuneration and labor benefits in full and on time is an infracción grave under Article 24.4 of the Reglamento de la Ley General de Inspección del Trabajo (DS 019-2006-TR, as amended by DS 008-2020-TR). On the general scale the fine runs from 1.57 to 26.12 UIT depending on how many workers are affected, which is S/ 8,635 to S/ 143,660 at the 2026 UIT of S/ 5,500 set by DS 301-2025-EF, roughly US $2,330 to $38,790. Micro and small enterprises registered in REMYPE pay a reduced scale.
Mistake 3: Assuming a holiday that lands on the weekly rest day doubles the bill. Three 2026 holidays fall on Sunday. An employee who rests on that day is owed nothing beyond the salary already paid, and an employee who works it without a substitute rest day is owed triple pay, the same as any other worked feriado.
Mistake 4: Ignoring regional holidays that disrupt attendance and local government operations. Cusco’s Inti Raymi (June 24) and Arequipa’s founding day (August 15) affect employee availability and vendor operations even though neither is a national feriado.
Peru’s Congress has an open file on moving mid-week holidays to Mondays, the reform Colombia adopted through the Ley Emiliani (Ley 51 de 1983). The Comisión de Trabajo y Seguridad Social approved a dictamen on September 16, 2025 that would shift four feriados to the following Monday. It has not been enacted, and every 2026 feriado remains fixed to its calendar date.
How Does Triple Pay Work for Peru Holidays?
Peru’s “triple remuneración” pays an employee three daily wages for a worked holiday, and it costs the employer two of those wages, under a formula fixed by Articles 8 and 9 of DL 713.
Component 1: Embedded holiday wage. Peru’s monthly salary assumes 30 calendar days of pay. The feriado is already compensated within the regular salary. Additional cost: zero.
Component 2: Pay for work performed. When the employer calls the employee in, DL 713 Article 8 entitles the worker to one additional daily wage (monthly salary divided by 30).
Component 3: 100% surcharge. Article 9 layers a 100% premium on Component 2.
The employee receives three daily wages; the employer’s incremental outlay is two daily wages. Partial hours trigger the full surcharge. A two-hour incident generates the same obligation as a full shift.
The substitute rest day alternative. Employers can eliminate Component 3 by granting a compensatory rest day under DS 012-92-TR, Article 4, which requires: (1) written agreement before or at the time of the holiday work, (2) a specified substitute date, and (3) proximity, with best practice holding within 30 days. For most US-managed nearshore teams, paying the surcharge outright is operationally cleaner than managing substitute rest documentation across time zones.
Peru’s 3x multiplier sits at the top of the worked-holiday cost curve for public holidays in Latin America. Argentina imposes 2x under Ley de Contrato de Trabajo 20.744, Art. 166. Colombia’s rate rose to 1.9x under Código Sustantivo del Trabajo Art. 179, as amended by Ley 2466 de 2025, which steps the festivo surcharge from 80% (through Jun 30, 2026) to 90% (from Jul 1, 2026) on the way to 100% in 2027. Mexico matches Peru’s 3x rate under Ley Federal del Trabajo, Art. 75, but applies it across only 7 holidays versus Peru’s 16, making Peru the most expensive country for holiday-work budgeting on an absolute basis.
Holiday-work pay premiums across Latin America, with each country’s legal source.
How Do You Calculate Triple Pay Step by Step?
A mid-level software engineer earning S/ 8,000 per month generates S/ 533.34 in incremental employer cost for each holiday worked, on top of the wage already embedded in salary.
- Daily wage: S/ 8,000 divided by 30 = S/ 266.67
- Component 1 (embedded): S/ 266.67
- Component 2 (work performed): S/ 266.67
- Component 3 (100% surcharge): S/ 266.67
- Total gross for the holiday: S/ 800.01
- Employer’s incremental cost: S/ 533.34 (approximately $144 USD)
An engineer working three holidays per year incurs roughly $432 USD in surcharges. Components 2 and 3 must appear as a distinct line item labeled “Feriado Laborado” on the boleta de pago. Burying it inside “Horas Extras” creates a documentation deficiency that SUNAFIL treats as a separate violation.
What Happens When a Holiday Falls on the Weekly Rest Day?
When a feriado coincides with Sunday, the default weekly rest day, the cost of working it stays at three daily wages. DL 713 Article 3 sets a 100% surcharge for working the weekly rest day without substitute rest, and Articles 8 and 9 set the same surcharge for a worked feriado. DS 012-92-TR Article 9 is the one provision that adds the two together, and it names a single date: when the Día del Trabajo (May 1) falls on the mandatory weekly rest day, the worker is owed a day’s remuneration for the feriado “con independencia de la remuneración por el día de descanso semanal”, one extra daily wage beyond the ordinary calculation. May 1 falls on a Friday in 2026, so that exception does not reach any of the year’s three Sunday feriados. An employee who rests one of them is owed nothing beyond the salary already paid. An employee who works one without a substitute rest day is owed the ordinary triple-pay figure: S/ 800.01 gross at S/ 266.67 per day, S/ 533.34 of it incremental to the employer. Granting a substitute rest day on an alternative weekday, documented in writing, removes the surcharge entirely.
Can Employers Require Employees to Work on Peru National Holidays?
Yes. DL 713 treats holiday work as legally permissible provided the employer pays the triple-pay surcharge or grants a substitute rest day. SUNAFIL enforces compliance under Ley No. 28806, whose reglamento (DS 019-2006-TR) carries the fine scale in Article 48.1, as amended by DS 008-2020-TR. Non-payment of the holiday surcharge, payslip documentation deficiencies, and failure to provide weekly rest compensation are each classified as infracciones graves, carrying 1.57 to 26.12 UIT on the general scale, S/ 8,635 to S/ 143,660 at the 2026 UIT of S/ 5,500, roughly $2,330 to $38,790. The figure inside that band depends on how many workers the infraction touches.
How Should Employers Prepare for Fiestas Patrias 2026?
Fiestas Patrias runs Jul 28-29 in 2026, and the día no laborable declared for Jul 27 stretches the break to five consecutive days, Saturday Jul 25 through Wednesday Jul 29, for everyone who observes it.
Fiestas Patrias, commemorating Peru’s 1821 independence, is the country’s most important national celebration. In 2026, July 28 falls on Tuesday and July 29 on Wednesday, with Air Force Day (Jul 23) adding a third Thursday feriado. DS 075-2026-PCM, published May 16, 2026, declared Monday Jul 27 a día no laborable compensable for the public sector, and private employers may take it by agreement with their workers:
| Year | Jul 28-29 Days | Bridge Day Declared | Resulting Break |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fri-Sat | Jul 27 (Thu), DS 151-2022-PCM | 4 days |
| 2024 | Sun-Mon | Jul 26 (Fri), DS 011-2024-PCM | 4 days |
| 2025 | Mon-Tue | none | 4 days |
| 2026 | Tue-Wed | Jul 27 (Mon), DS 075-2026-PCM | 5 days |
How Do Fiestas Patrias Bonuses Stack With Holiday Surcharges?
July is also when the mandatory gratificación, one full month’s salary, is due by July 15, which can push a single month’s payroll to more than double its normal size. For the S/ 8,000 engineer working all three July holidays, the month’s total reaches S/ 17,600 (approximately $4,752 USD), 2.2 times a normal monthly payroll. The December gratificación creates a similar spike. These two months require explicit budget modeling rather than flat monthly accruals.
How Do You Build a 2026 Peru Holiday Compliance Checklist?
2026 contains 261 Monday-to-Friday days. Thirteen of Peru’s 16 feriados land on one of them, leaving 248 weekdays; the 11 US federal holidays all fall on weekdays by the observance rule, leaving 250. The two calendars sit within two days of each other before leave. The gap opens on leave: DL 713 Article 10 guarantees 30 calendar days of paid vacation after each full year of service, and no US federal statute sets a minimum at all. Here is the action list:
Peru’s 13 weekday feriados and the 11 US federal holidays leave nearly the same number of 2026 weekdays; statutory vacation is where the calendars diverge.
- Load all 16 feriados into your HRIS, including the four added since 2021 (Jun 7, Jul 23, Aug 6, Dec 9)
- Update Semana Santa dates annually. 2026 dates are April 2-3
- Decide whether to adopt the two 2026 días no laborables, Jan 2 and Jul 27, and record the compensatory-hours agreement if you do
- Watch El Peruano for any further días no laborables decree; DS 075-2026-PCM was published on May 16
- Audit payroll surcharge configuration to ensure triple-pay auto-applies on feriados
- Verify holiday premiums are itemized on boletas de pago under a distinct concept
- Flag July as the highest-cost payroll month, gratificación plus up to three holiday surcharges
- Maintain a regional holiday calendar for distributed teams across Cusco, Arequipa, and Lima
- Schedule a compliance review with your Peru EOR or local labor counsel before Q2
If you are staffing a new team rather than only managing an existing one, our Peru hiring guide covers vetting timelines and market salary bands alongside these compliance obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions About Peru Holidays in 2026
The six answers below cover the holiday count, días no laborables, the missed surcharge, substitute rest days, EOR responsibility, and weekend work.
How many public holidays does Peru have in 2026?
Sixteen, under DL 713 Article 6 and the four amendments passed between 2021 and 2023. Thirteen fall on weekdays and three fall on Sundays. Two días no laborables sit on top of that count for the public sector, Friday January 2 under DS 042-2025-PCM and Monday July 27 under DS 075-2026-PCM, and private employers may adopt either by agreement.
Are dias no laborables mandatory for private-sector employees?
No. Días no laborables bind only the public sector. Private employers may adopt them voluntarily, but no law requires it, and granting them as paid time off without a compensatory-hours policy can create an entitlement expectation.
What happens if an employer skips the 100% holiday surcharge?
SUNAFIL classifies the omission as an infracción grave under Article 24.4 of DS 019-2006-TR. The general scale runs 1.57 to 26.12 UIT according to the number of workers affected, which is S/ 8,635 to S/ 143,660 at the 2026 UIT of S/ 5,500, roughly $2,330 to $38,790. Payslip documentation gaps and missed weekly-rest compensation are each treated as separate violations.
Can an employer offer a substitute rest day instead of paying triple pay?
Yes. DS 012-92-TR, Article 4 allows a compensatory rest day in place of the 100% surcharge, provided the employer secures written agreement, names a specific substitute date, and grants it within roughly 30 days of the holiday worked.
How does an EOR handle Peru holiday pay for a nearshore team?
An Employer of Record becomes the legal employer in Peru and takes responsibility for calculating and remitting the correct holiday premium, itemizing it on the boleta de pago, and tracking feriado law changes. Our Employer of Record in Peru guide covers the setup process.
Do weekend workers face extra Peru holiday costs?
Not beyond the ordinary triple-pay rule. When a feriado falls on Sunday, the default weekly rest day, an employee who rests is owed nothing extra, and an employee who works without a substitute rest day is owed three daily wages, the same as on any other worked feriado. DS 012-92-TR Article 9 adds a further day’s remuneration only when the Día del Trabajo (May 1) lands on the weekly rest day, and May 1 falls on a Friday in 2026.
Planning your 2026 workforce calendar in Peru? Our team helps employers navigate Decreto Legislativo 713 obligations, payroll surcharges, and dias no laborables, so you stay compliant without the guesswork. Talk to a Peru hiring specialist →
