Labour Day in Libya

Date and legal status

Law No. 5 of 2012 sets Libya’s official holidays according to an attached schedule. The schedule names May 1 as Labour Day and identifies it as international. The law allows the legislature to add holidays or change their durations, but the listed Labour Day date is May 1.[1][2]

The calendar follows a fixed May 1 date and lists no substitute or observed day. A government notice from 2025 declared the date an official holiday in all public institutions and facilities. It also directed institutions with humanitarian or security functions to account for the nature of their work and preserve staff members’ rights to compensation for working that day.[1][3]

Meaning and wider context

The law’s schedule calls it International Labour Day. Libya’s Labour Relations Law recognizes official holidays as time off due to workers and provides for combining official holidays with weekly rest in certain workplaces that need continuous operations.[1][4]

More broadly, May 1 is associated with international workers’ solidarity and labour rights. The Library of Congress traces the date’s significance to workers’ demonstrations in Chicago in 1886, which called for an eight-hour workday.[5]

How the day is observed

The government notice declared the holiday for public institutions and facilities, with work continuing where humanitarian or security functions require it.[1][3]

Public services and planning

The government notice applies to public institutions and facilities, so travelers should expect many public offices to close when the holiday is officially declared. The notice does not give opening hours for banks, shops, restaurants, or transport, so check directly with the service or operator before making plans.[3]

Some work may continue where the nature of the institution or service requires it. Libya’s Labour Relations Law also provides for official holidays to be grouped with weekly rest in certain workplaces that require continuous operations.[3][4]