Short answer. Probably not. The Labor Code says every worker shall be paid his regular daily wage during regular holidays, but it excepts retail and service establishments regularly employing less than ten workers. Two things have to be true: the business is retail or service, and it regularly employs fewer than ten.
What the law says
Every worker shall be paid his regular daily wage during regular holidays, except in retail and service establishments regularly employing less than ten (10) workers
Labor Code, Article 94 — Right To Holiday Pay. Read the full provision →
The exception has two elements, not one
The rule and its exception are in one sentence: every worker shall be paid his regular daily wage during regular holidays, except in retail and service establishments regularly employing less than ten (10) workers. Both halves of the exception must be satisfied. A small employer that is not a retail or service establishment — a workshop producing goods, for instance — is not covered by it merely for being small. And a retail business with a dozen staff is not covered merely for being retail. Head count alone answers nothing.
"Regularly employing" is about the ordinary complement
The word regularly is the one to press on. The test is not how many people happened to be on the floor on the holiday, nor the number on a slow week. It asks what the establishment ordinarily employs. A shop whose usual complement is twelve and which drops to eight for a month has not moved outside the rule, and one that keeps eight regular staff and hires extra hands only for the Christmas season is not thereby taken outside the exception. If the number sits close to ten, the payroll over a period is what shows the ordinary position.
The exception is written against holiday pay, not against everything
It is easy to hear "we are exempt" as covering more than it does. What this clause excepts is the entitlement to be paid the regular daily wage during regular holidays. It is not a general exemption from the Labor Code, and it says nothing about wages, rest days, overtime or the other benefits your employment carries. If a small employer is invoking this article to explain a deduction that has nothing to do with a holiday, the article is being asked to do work it cannot do.
What to establish before you raise it
Two facts decide your case, so gather those. First, what the business actually is — retail or service, or something else. Second, how many workers it regularly employs, counting everyone engaged rather than only those on formal contracts, since establishments near the line often keep part of the staff off the books. Payslips, schedules and the names of co-workers over several months are the usual proof. Take that, and the dates you were not paid for, to a lawyer.