Public Holidays & PTO Across LatAm by Country

September 18, 2026

Last reviewed: September 2026. This guide is general information for U.S. employers, not legal or tax advice. Employment and tax rules change often, so confirm specifics with qualified local counsel or a tax professional before acting.

Planning coverage and deadlines across a distributed LatAm team means knowing two different things for each country: which days are legally non-working (and typically paid at a premium if worked), and how much statutory paid vacation employees accrue. Both differ meaningfully by country, more than most U.S.-based companies expect. This is a good companion read to our overview of what nearshore hiring services include, since holiday and PTO planning is a recurring operational detail once a team is up and running, not just a one-time hiring decision.

Mexico

Mexico's Ley Federal del Trabajo, Article 74, designates a specific list of mandatory rest days (días de descanso obligatorio), including January 1, the first Monday of February (commemorating February 5), the third Monday of March (commemorating March 21), May 1, September 16, the third Monday of November (commemorating November 20), October 1 every six years for the presidential transfer of power (moved from December 1 by a 2024 reform), and December 25, plus any date designated by federal electoral law for a general election. Under Article 75, work performed on these days is paid at double the regular wage on top of the regular day's pay, effectively triple pay. Paid vacation is governed by Article 76 under the "vacaciones dignas" reform effective January 1, 2023 (see the official DOF decree), which raised the statutory minimum to 12 working days after the first year of service, increasing by two days per year up to 20 days, then by two days for every additional five years of service.

Colombia

Colombia's holiday calendar is set under Ley 51 de 1983, which established the "Ley de Puente" (bridge-day law) moving many civil and religious holidays to the following Monday to create long weekends, resulting in one of the region's higher holiday counts. Work on Sundays and holidays carries a surcharge that Ley 2466 de 2025 is phasing up, to 90% from July 1, 2026 and 100% from July 1, 2027. Paid vacation is set at 15 working days per year of service under CST Article 186, among the lower statutory vacation entitlements in the region, though many employers offer more as a competitive benefit.

Argentina

Argentina's holiday calendar is governed by Ley 27.399, the "Ley de Establecimiento de Feriados y Fines de Semana Largos," which fixes national holidays, moves certain "trasladable" holidays to a Monday, and allows the executive branch to designate up to three additional holidays or non-working days per year to promote tourism. Paid vacation under LCT Article 150 is notably generous and tenure-based: 14 calendar days for up to five years of service, 21 days for five to ten years, 28 days for ten to twenty years, and 35 days beyond twenty years, among the most generous statutory vacation schedules covered in this guide. The 2026 labor modernization law (Ley 27.802) kept these day counts but added flexibility on timing, including splitting vacation into blocks of at least seven days.

Brazil

Brazil observes a set of federal national holidays fixed by law, plus state and municipal holidays that vary by location, meaning the effective holiday calendar for a Brazil-based hire depends on where in Brazil they're based, not just the federal list. Paid vacation under CLT Articles 129-130 is a flat 30 calendar days per year of service (reduced only for excessive unjustified absences), the most generous flat vacation entitlement among the countries covered here, paid with a constitutionally required one-third bonus on top of regular vacation pay.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Código de Trabajo designates a set of holidays, most of them paid mandatory holidays (feriados de pago obligatorio) and a few non-mandatory ones, and mandatory holidays that are worked are paid double. A temporary law moved certain holidays to Mondays from 2020 through 2024; it has since expired, and the MTSS 2026 holiday calendar observes each holiday on its actual date. Vacation accrues at a minimum of two weeks (12 working days plus two rest days) for every 50 weeks of continuous work, so the entitlement is tied to completed periods of service rather than a calendar year.

Planning Around Five Different Calendars

Build the actual holiday calendar per country and, for Brazil, per state/city, rather than assuming a single LatAm-wide calendar; the count and dates differ meaningfully.
Budget for holiday-worked premiums if any role requires coverage on a legal holiday, several of these countries mandate a significant pay premium (effectively triple pay in Mexico, double pay in Costa Rica) for that work.
Track vacation accrual by country, since entitlements range from 12-15 days in Mexico and Colombia up to a flat 30 days in Brazil, a meaningful difference when planning coverage and setting expectations with a distributed team.
Confirm the current-year calendar annually, since bridge-day and Monday-shifting provisions in several of these countries mean the exact non-working dates can shift from a simple fixed list.

How RapiStaffing Handles This

Holiday and vacation tracking is part of ongoing payroll management under our flat 38%-of-salary model, not a separate administrative project your team has to run independently. See our services for employers for the full scope of what's managed on your behalf once a hire is active. For the payroll tax side of these same five countries, see our guide to payroll tax and withholding basics, and for wage and hour rules, see minimum wage, overtime, and working-hours rules across LatAm.

FAQ

Which country has the most paid vacation days?
Brazil, with a flat 30 calendar days per year regardless of tenure, is the most generous among the countries covered here; Argentina's tenure-based schedule can approach or exceed that at longer tenures.

Do public holidays count against an employee's vacation balance?
Public holidays and statutory vacation are separate entitlements, but how a holiday inside a vacation period is handled depends on how vacation is counted. Where vacation is counted in working days (Mexico and Colombia), a holiday during the vacation is not charged against the balance. Where it is counted in calendar days (Argentina and Brazil), a holiday generally falls within the vacation period, and Brazil bars starting vacation in the two days before a holiday or weekly rest day. Confirm the treatment for each country before approving leave.

If a Brazil-based employee moves cities, does their holiday calendar change?
It can, since Brazil layers state and municipal holidays on top of the federal calendar. Confirming the applicable local calendar for the employee's actual location is worth doing if a relocation happens.

Public Holidays and Paid Time Off Requirements by Country