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Canadian Statutory holiday pay calculations and date tracking can be tricky, especially when it varies from province to province! Don't worry, we have you covered.In this guide we will cover 2022 stat holidays, and holiday pay for BC, AB, SK, MN and ON!!
A public holiday or sometimes called statutory holidays, stat days, are a variety of nationalistic or religious, cultural holidays that are legislated in Canada at the federal or provincial level. What does that all mean? As an employer you need to know what counts as a stat holiday, how they are treated differently in each province in Canada, which days are considered stat holidays and how the pay is calculated. Read on to find out everything you need to know about statutory holidays in British Columbia.
A legal holiday is one set aside by the government to celebrate a special day. On these days, the law expects an employer to give workers a break. There are only two national legal holidays in Canada: Canada Day and Victoria Day.
Other legal holidays are set by provincial governments. Your own employee contracts also provide for specific holiday breaks.
A federal holiday is a holiday in which employees get a day off, with pay. It concerns employers and employees under federal jurisdiction. However, the Labour Code does not prevent your employees from working on a holiday.
Employees whose job demands that they stay back and work during federal holidays must be paid.
The extra wages for federal holidays are often less than the regular rate for that day. In other words, if an employee works on a federal holiday, they receive a full day’s holiday pay plus whatever is set out in your business’s pay policy.
Federal-regulated employees also enjoy an extra four statutory holidays! Those are listed below.
A Statutory Holiday is a holiday fixed by federal, territorial, or provincial legislation. Also called public or Stat holidays, they entitle workers to a paid day off.
This means that, even if your workers are not at work on those days, you have to pay them. If a worker works on a holiday, they earn a proportion of their regular pay plus full holiday pay.
Sometimes, the Statutory Holiday may fall on a weekend and in those cases the next available workday becomes the effective holiday.
Not every employee gets to enjoy statutory holidays. , an employee must have worked for your company for approximately 30 days (the rule varies depending on the jurisdiction). Also, you may choose to waive this rule, to boost the morale of your staff, so that all your employees can enjoy the same days off, regardless of how long they have worked for you.
It will encourage them and show that you have their best interests at heart.
A provincial holiday is a holiday recognized by a provincial government. It applies only within a particular province and the same day may be a normal working day in another province.
Some Canadian celebrations vary from province to province. Individual provinces have certain statutory holidays to celebrate historical and cultural events. On these days, workers will get a paid day off or a premium rate if they work.
The Employment Standards Act of each province regulates their specific holidays. It also covers all pay rules and other entitlements. You can find the applicable law for your province below:
A government holiday is a date in the calendar set aside for Canadian celebrations. The federal, provincial, or territorial government legislates all holidays in Canada.
Federal holidays are for employees that work under federal jurisdiction. Provincial holidays relate to the specific provinces. Territorial holidays cover workers in different territories.
Workers may only take part in holidays that are relevant to their locale. As an employer, you don't have to give days off on all holidays, only on ones relevant to your region.
As a Canadian business owner you need to understand how to pay your staff for Canadian statutory holidays.
Paying promptly is key to building employee trust, plus it's the law.
There are two ways to navigate paying your employees for holidays, typically manual calculations, and cloud based solutions are the two most popular.
If you choose a manual solution, but don't know how to calculate your workers’ holiday pay, you are not alone.
Calculating this on your own may pose a problem for you because each holiday pay calculation will vary based on the province, but we created a handy guide below to help you out!
Other things to keep in mind when using manual calculations are manual errors, and manually transferring employee schedule and clock in data from roster to payroll. It is for that reason we recommend using an automated system to save you time and money.
We believe the best way to navigate holiday pay for Canadian holidays when it comes to your employees, is by investing in an integrated system that will help you stay on top of regulations, without you having to lift a finger.
This system works by integrating with your scheduling software and time tracking software, then streamlining your employees worked hours to payroll.
By using an automated payroll software solution, your employee statutory holiday pay calculations will automatically be made, and added onto your employees paychecks based around provincial rules. Plus, with an automated solution, employee payroll taxes are also calculated!
Christmas?! While we’re talking about this wonderful time of year, you may want to bookmark our Tips on Managing Staff during the Holidays.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
2022 Updates: Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in B.C.
To be eligible for stat holiday pay in British Columbia, employees must be employed for the past 30 calendar days and have worked or earned wages on 15 of the30 days before the statutory holiday. It’s common to believe that you must work the day before and the day after the holiday in order to qualify for the pay but that’s not the case in BC. If the employee doesn’t qualify for statutory pay but works the day they receive regular pay.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
Public holiday pay would be calculated by referencing the past 30 calendar days before the holiday, including vacation days.
Here’s the equation:
Total wages ÷ number of days worked= statutory holiday pay (an average day's pay)
Include all wages - salary, vacation, commission, stat holiday pay but not overtime. This is the amount of holiday pay they would receive for that day.
For example: In the last 30 days, Patricia is paid $14/hour and works 6 hour days. She has worked 17 days of the past 30. Since she has worked at least 15 days and has been employed longer than 30 days she is eligible for stat pay. She is also eligible for premium stat pay should she be scheduled for the day.
To calculate her statutory holiday pay:
Example #2: Evan gets paid $17/hour and his hours the past 4 weeks are this: Week #1 = 36 hours (5 days);Week #2 = 41 hours (5 days); Week #3 = 31 hours (4days); Week # 4 = 19 hours (4 days)
They sure do! If they qualify for it by working at least15 days in the past 30 then part time employees get statutory holiday pay.
In addition to British Columbia stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are entitled to time and a half for hours worked on a statutory holiday. Double time for hours over 12 hours worked.
Here’s the calculation:
This is calculated at one and a halftimes the regular wage x the number of hours they worked. Regular hourly wage x 1.5 = Premium pay.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four8 hour shifts. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her statutory holiday pay:
Regular wages earned in the last 4 weeks= $12 x 32 (8×4) hours = $384 + $15.36(vacation pay, paid out per cheque)
$1485.12 / 17 = $87.36 in regular stat pay or 6 hours.
PLUS
To sum it all up here is an example:
Ruby’s average day's pay is $120. On the statutory holiday, if Ruby:
After that long read, your thoughts on calculating statutory holiday could go two ways:
1. "Wow, I think I get it!" or
2. "... I need to read that again."
If you haven't, that’s okay, we’re here to help. Whether you’ve got it or not, automating payroll will save you a load of time.
In addition to these nine holidays, Alberta has three optional stat holidays. It is up to the employer to decide to designate these days as stat holidays. If the employer agrees to any of these days, all employment standards rules related to stat holiday pay still apply for these additional holidays. The additional optional days are
Yes, statutory holidays (or “stat holidays”) are defined in Alberta’s Employment Standards Code as “general holidays”. Alberta of course has its own guidelines when it comes to what employees are eligible, but as for the terms general holidays and statutory holidays - in Alberta, they are technically interchangeable.
Alberta observes nine statutory holidays throughout the year where employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or work with statutory holiday pay or time off in lie. Read on to find out the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay and other rules you might not be aware of.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is only observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the third Monday of February. In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, called by a different name. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and Islander Day in Prince Edward Island.
Therefore the answer is yes, Family day is a Stat Holiday in Alberta, recognized on the third Monday of February.
National reconciliation day, or truth and reconciliation day is a national holiday in Canada, however Alberta has not declared it as a provincial stat holiday. However, some cities and towns in Alberta like Calgary and Edmonton observe September 30 (Friday, September 30, 2022) as a statutory holiday for their employees. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a stat holiday for all federal employees.
Employees are entitled to statutory holiday pay if they have worked 30 workdays for the same employer in the 12 months prior to the holiday.
Most employees are eligible to receive stat holiday and receive statutory holiday pay if:
If an employee is scheduled to work on the holiday and is absent without employer’s consent and employees must work their last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday as well as their first regularly scheduled shift after the holiday, if either of these conditions are not met then an employee is not entitled to stat holiday pay
For example: Joe works Monday to Friday, and the next stat holiday falls on a Friday. Joe is scheduled to work on the Thursday before the holiday, and the Monday after the holiday. He must work these entire shifts to be eligible for stat pay. Joe has requested Monday off to extend his weekend. His manager approves his request, therefore Joe is still eligible for stat holiday pay.
However, if Joe's request is not accepted, and he does not show up, he will only be paid premium pay for the hours he has worked on the stat holiday.
You gotta follow the rules, most employees qualify if the stat holiday is a regular workday or the employee works the holiday that is not a regular day of work. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, you must pay them on time and accurately.
If the holiday falls on a regular work day and the employee does not work, they get paid at least their average daily wage. If the employee works on the holiday which is also a regular day of work, the employee is entitled to a rate of 1.5 times their regular wage plus their average daily wage. Or if the employee works on the holiday, they may also opt to receive their regular rate for the hours worked plus a day off in the future where they receive wages of their average daily rate for that day off.
What happens when the holiday falls on a non regular work day? If the employee does not work, they are not eligible for stat holiday pay. If they do work, they receive 1.5time their regular wage for hours worked but not their daily average pay.
They sure do! All full time and part time hourly employees are eligible to receive stat pay.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
Public holiday pay is calculated by adding up the number of wages your employee has earned in the 4 weeks prior to the holiday from the last and divide that by 20. This is the amount of holiday pay they would receive for that day.
The four weeks before the public holiday can be either:
Here's an example: Peter is paid $14/hour and works regular hours 5 days per week. In the 4 weeks (28 days) leading up the holiday, Peter worked 20 days and made $1120. He also worked his last scheduled shift before the holiday and will be working the first shift after. He is eligible for both regular stat pay and premium stat pay should he be scheduled for the day.
In total, Peter will be paid $56 in regular statutory pay, even if he does not work the holiday.
In addition to Alberta stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are also entitled to either:
OR
You, as the employer chooses which of these options will apply.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four 8 hour shifts. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay. As she also worked her last scheduled shift before the holiday, and will be working the first shift after, she is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
\
PLUS
After that long read, your thoughts on calculating statutory holiday could go two ways:
If you haven't, that’s okay, we’re here to help. Whether you’ve got it or not, automating payroll will save you a load of time.
For further information on automating Alberta general holiday calculations, please contact Push or download our handy ebook guide below!
Manitoba observes eight statutory holidays throughout the year where employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or work with statutory holiday pay or time off in lieu. Read on to find out the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay and other rules you might not be aware of.
Although Remembrance Day is not a statutory holiday there are special requirements to pay employees who work that day. Also, Easter Sunday, Terry Fox Day and Boxing Day are not stat holidays recognized in Manitoba.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July 2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is only observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the third Monday of February.
In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, called by a different name.
Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and Islander Day in Prince Edward Island.
Therefore the answer is yes, Family day is a Stat Holiday in Manitoba just goes by another name.
National reconciliation day, or truth and reconciliation day is a national holiday in Canada, however Manitoba has not declared it as a provincial stat holiday. However, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a stat holiday for all federal employees.
To be eligible for stat holiday pay in Manitoba, employees simply have to follow the "first and last" rule - there are no restrictions on how long an employee has worked an employer. In order to qualify for Public Holiday pay, employees must work their last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday as well as their first regularly scheduled shift after the holiday, unless they have permissions to miss their shift due to reasonable cause or have their employer's consent. They must also work the holiday to be eligible for holiday pay if they are scheduled to do so.
However, if Joe's request is not accepted, and he does not show up, he will only be paid premium pay for the hours he has worked on the stat holiday.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
If your employee works the same number of hours each day consistently, they get paid one day’s wages for the stat holiday.
Ex. Susan works 3:00pm - 8:00pm each afternoon Saturday to Thursday. Her Stat pay would be 5 hours at her regular wage.
For employees who work inconsistent hours or earn different wages, they receive 5% of gross wages for holiday pay in the 4 week period preceding the holiday.
Peter is paid $14/hour and worked 76 hours over the past 4 weeks. As he also worked his last scheduled shift before the holiday and will be working the first shift after. Regular wages earned in the last 4 weeks = $14 x 76 hours = $1064
You gotta follow the rules. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, you must pay them on time and accurately.
Do part time employees get statutory holiday pay in Manitoba?
They sure do! All full time and part time hourly employees are eligible to receive stat pay.
In addition to Manitoba stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are also entitled to either:
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four 8 hour shifts. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay. As she also worked her last scheduled shift before the holiday, and will be working the first shift after, she is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her total stat pay:
PLUS
Saskatchewan observes ten statutory holidays throughout the year where employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or work with statutory holiday pay or time off in lieu. Read on to find out the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay and other rules you might not be aware of.
Easter Sunday and Boxing Day are not stat holidays recognized in Saskatchewan.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July 2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
Yes, statutory holidays (or “stat holidays”) are defined in Saskatchewan's Employment Standards Code as “general holidays”. Sask of course has its own guidelines when it comes to what employees are eligible, but as for the terms general holidays and statutory holidays - in Sask, they are technically interchangeable.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is only observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the third Monday of February. In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, called by a different name. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and Islander Day in Prince Edward Island. Therefore the answer is yes, Family day is a Stat Holiday in Saskatchewan.
National reconciliation day, or truth and reconciliation day is a national holiday in Canada, however Saskatchewan does not recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a Provincial stat holiday. The Government of Saskatchewan recently proclaimed Sept. 30 as Truth and Reconciliation Day for the province. However, that proclamation only recognizes the day and does not establish it as a provincial holiday. That being said, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a stat holiday for all federal employees.
All employees get paid for the ten statutory holidays in Saskatchewan regardless of how they are paid or what hours they work.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
Most employees receive 5% of their gross wages for holiday pay in the 4 week period preceding the holiday. Public holiday pay would be calculated by adding up the wages earned in the past 4 weeks prior to the holiday including vacation pay but not overtime and calculating 5% of that.
Peter is paid $14/hour and worked 76 hours over the past 4 weeks. Regular wages earned in the last 4 weeks = $14 x 76 hours = $1064
You gotta follow the rules. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, you must pay them on time and accurately.
They sure do! All full time and part time hourly employees are eligible to receive stat pay. Even new employees who have not yet worked a full 4 weeks receive holiday pay. Just calculate the number of weeks wages they have worked and calculate 5% of the wages to date.
In addition to Saskatchewan stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are also entitled to premium pay. This is calculated at one and a half times the regular wage x the number of hours they worked. Regular hourly wage x 1.5 = Premium pay.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four 8 hour shifts each week. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her total stat pay:
In addition to these nine holidays, employers should be aware of Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Civic Holiday (First Monday in August). These dates are not statutory holidays in Ontario but some employers voluntarily give the day off. Most provincially regulated businesses still operate on these days and are not required to pay holiday or stat pay. Also, Ontario is the only province in Canada that recognizes Boxing Day, December 26th, as a statutory holiday which can cause some confusion for businesses that operate across provinces.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July 2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
Ontario observes nine statutory holidays throughout the year where employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or work with statutory holiday pay or time off in lieu. Read on to find out the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay and other rules you might not be aware of.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is only observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the third Monday of February. In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, called by a different name. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and Islander Day in Prince Edward Island. Therefore the answer is yes, Family day is a Stat Holiday in Ontario, recognized on the third Monday of February.
National reconciliation day is not considered to be a provincial statutory holiday in Ontario. That being said, there are still likely to be business closures to be aware of, and anyone who works for a federally regulated company, that operates under the Canada Labour Code, will receive a paid holiday for National Truth and Reconciliation Day.
To be eligible for stat holiday pay in Ontario, employees simply have to follow the "first and last" rule - there are no restrictions on how long an employee has worked an employer. In order to qualify for Public Holiday pay, employees must work their last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday as well as their first regularly scheduled shift after the holiday, unless they have permissions to miss their shift due to reasonable cause or have their employer's consent. Failure to work the entire shift without reasonable cause may result in disqualification of entitlement to Holiday pay.
However, if Joe's request is not accepted, and he does not show up, he will only be paid premium pay for the hours he has worked on the stat holiday.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work.
Most employees are entitled to Public Holiday pay. Public holiday pay would be calculated by adding up the number of hours your employee has worked in the 4 work weeks prior to the holiday(including vacation pay but not overtime) from the last and divide that by 20. This is the amount of holiday pay they would receive for that day.
The four weeks before the public holiday is based on the employer’s work week. For example, instead of a Monday to Sunday work week, it could be a Sunday to Saturday work week.Here's an example:In the last 4 weeks, Peter is paid $14/hour and worked 30 hours. As he also worked his last scheduled shift before the holiday and will be working the first shift after. He is eligible for both regular stat pay and premium stat pay should he be scheduled for the day.
In total, Peter will be paid $21.84 in regular statutory pay, even if he does not work the holiday.
You gotta follow the rules. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, you must pay them on time and accurately.
They sure do! All full time and part time hourly employees are eligible to receive stat pay.
In addition to Ontario stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are also entitled to either:
OR
You, as the employer chooses which of these options will apply.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four 8 hour shifts. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay. As she also worked her last scheduled shift before the holiday, and will be working the first shift after, she is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her total stat pay:
PLUS
Can you imagine how much time you would save if you could automate your holiday pay calculations? Well you can.
KayaPush has created smart software that integrates with your staffing back end, to automatically calculate stat holiday pay while scheduling, and paying staff. Payroll is done, and so are holiday pay calculations at the click of a button.
For further information on automating Ontario statutory holiday calculations download our free guide! Or, connect with a helpful team member at KayaPush today.
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-Marry Ann from Riverside Wellness-
The scheduling app is awesome. It takes away a lot of communication that needed to happen manually with my team. It streamlines a lot of things that were not streamlined in previous businesses that I worked with.
KayaPush made creating the schedule and applying different tags to the scheduling a lot of fun and easy. The goal was to spend less time on data processing and employee management to keep the dispensary compliant.
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