The three questions every province answers
Every jurisdiction’s holiday rules answer the same three questions. First, is the employee eligible? Some provinces require a minimum period of employment or a number of days worked before the holiday; many require the employee to work their last scheduled shift before and first scheduled shift after the holiday unless they have a reasonable excuse. Second, how much holiday pay do they get if they have the day off? This is usually an average of recent earnings. Third, what do they get if they work the holiday? Usually a premium rate, a substitute day off, or both.
The answers differ enough that one formula cannot cover the country. If you have staff in more than one province, payroll has to apply the rules of each employee’s province of employment. The summaries below reflect the rules as of 2026; always confirm the current rules with the employment standards office before relying on them.
Ontario
Ontario has nine public holidays: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Civic Holiday in August is not a public holiday under the Employment Standards Act, although many employers give it.
Public holiday pay equals the regular wages earned plus vacation pay payable in the four work weeks before the work week of the holiday, divided by 20. An employee who works the holiday gets either their regular rate for hours worked plus a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or public holiday pay plus premium pay of 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked, if they agree in writing.
An employee loses entitlement if they fail, without reasonable cause, to work their last regularly scheduled day before or first regularly scheduled day after the holiday.
British Columbia
British Columbia has eleven statutory holidays, including BC Day in August and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30. Boxing Day and Easter Monday are not statutory holidays in BC.
To qualify, an employee must have been employed for 30 calendar days before the holiday and have worked or earned wages on at least 15 of those 30 days. Holiday pay is an average day’s pay: the total wages earned in the 30 calendar days before the holiday divided by the number of days worked.
An employee who works a statutory holiday receives 1.5 times their regular wage for the first 12 hours and double time after that, plus an average day’s pay.
Alberta
Alberta has nine general holidays, including Family Day and Remembrance Day. The average daily wage is 5% of the wages, general holiday pay and vacation pay earned in the four weeks immediately before the holiday.
If the holiday falls on a day the employee would normally work and they get the day off, they receive the average daily wage. If they work it, they receive either 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked plus the average daily wage, or their regular rate for hours worked plus a substitute day off with average daily wage. If the holiday is not a normal work day for the employee and they do not work, there is no holiday pay; if they do work it, they are paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for the hours worked.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Québec
Saskatchewan and Manitoba both use a 5% formula: holiday pay equals 5% of the employee’s wages (excluding overtime) earned in the four weeks before the holiday, and an employee who works the holiday receives 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked plus that holiday pay. Saskatchewan has ten public holidays; check Manitoba’s current list, which includes Louis Riel Day in February.
Québec uses one-twentieth of the wages earned (excluding overtime) in the four complete weeks of pay before the holiday. An employee who works the holiday receives their regular wages plus either the holiday indemnity or a compensatory day off. Québec’s Fête nationale on June 24 is governed by separate legislation with its own eligibility and pay rules, so treat it separately in payroll.
Atlantic Canada, the territories and federal employers
The Atlantic provinces generally use an average day’s pay with an eligibility test based on days worked before the holiday, and pay a premium of at least 1.5 times for hours worked on the holiday. Nova Scotia has fewer paid holidays under its labour standards code than most provinces, with Remembrance Day handled under a separate act. Prince Edward Island recognizes the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code, which lists ten general holidays including the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Holiday pay is one-twentieth of wages (excluding overtime) earned in the four weeks before the holiday, and working the holiday earns 1.5 times the regular rate on top of holiday pay. Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut each have their own lists and formulas.
A worked example across three provinces
Take an employee who earned $3,200 in regular wages over the four weeks before a holiday, plus $128 of vacation pay paid on those cheques, and who worked 16 days in the 30 calendar days before it. Here is roughly what their holiday pay looks like if they take the day off, under three different formulas.
In Ontario, holiday pay is regular wages plus vacation pay payable in the four work weeks before the holiday week, divided by 20: ($3,200 + $128) ÷ 20 = $166.40. In British Columbia, it is wages in the 30 calendar days before the holiday divided by days worked; if that 30-day window holds $3,450 of wages over 16 days, the average day’s pay is about $215.63. In Saskatchewan, it is 5% of wages (excluding overtime) in the four weeks before: 5% of $3,200 = $160.
Same employee, same earnings, three different results. That is why multi-province employers should never apply a single company-wide formula, and why the look-back window and earnings definition need to be set per jurisdiction rather than per company.
How to get holiday pay right every time
Because each formula looks back over a different period (four work weeks, four calendar weeks, 30 calendar days) and includes different earnings, the safest approach is payroll software that stores each jurisdiction’s rules and looks back over the right period for each employee. SeroPayroll ships thirteen holiday calendars and thirteen formulas, one for each province and territory, and applies the one that matches the employee’s province of employment.
Whatever you use, document your process. Note how you handle employees on leave, new hires who have not yet qualified, and part-time staff who do not normally work the day of the week the holiday falls on. Those edge cases cause most disputes.
- Apply the rules of the employee’s province of employment
- Use the right look-back period and earnings definition
- Check eligibility: service, days worked, last and first shift
- Pay the premium for hours worked on the holiday
- Record substitute days off and pay them correctly
- Include holiday pay in vacationable earnings where required