Holiday pay

Just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving, I wanted to do a post just briefly reminding my readers about their rights for statutory holiday pay, and remove any misgivings some may have about what they may or may not be entitled to. Now, the Employment Standards Act is an excellent source of information for those in Ontario, and there are respective legislations in every other province, and in each American state for that matter.

For those in Ontario though, this coming Monday is a statutory holiday, and for us hourly workers that means statutory pay, and furthermore, confusion. That said, here comes a bit of clarity.

According to ESA, so long as you work your regularly scheduled shift before and after the holiday, you're entitled to holiday pay (the calculation itself is fairly complex, but essentially uses an averaging of the hours you worked the two weeks prior to the holiday). Holiday pay is thus essentially a paid day off work. That said, if you choose to (or are kindly requested to) work on the statutory holiday, the ESA is very clear about the expectations on part of the employer. You are still entitled to the holiday pay you would have received if you had not worked. Beyond that, you are also entitled to holiday pay, generally at a rate of 1.5 times your regular rate.

In the words of the ESA:

Most employees who qualify are entitled to take these days off work and be paid public holiday pay. Alternatively, they can agree in writing to work on the holiday and they will be paid:

• public holiday pay plus premium pay for the hours worked on the public holiday; or
• their regular rate for hours worked on the holiday, plus they will receive another day off (called a "substitute" holiday) with public holiday pay. If the employee has earned a substituteday off with public holiday pay, the public holiday pay calculation is done with respect to the four work weeks before the work week in which the substitute day off falls.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that not all jobs qualify for holiday pay. The ESA provides a lengthy al bight incomplete list of professions not covered by holiday pay, so before yelling at your boss, check to see if they're required to pay out here. I am curious as to the reasoning behind farm workers and tourism industry employees are excluded from this holiday pay.

For those getting the long weekend off, I hope you enjoy it, it looks like it'll be quite beautiful in most of Ontario.