The ESA discusses some fairly complex calculations for vacation pay/time, but essentially it boils down to this:
- You are not eligible for a vacation unless you've been working there for 12 uninterrupted months
- Depending on the company's fiscal cycle (when the start vacation entitlement), you may have to wait longer than a year, but your vacation time will continue to accumulate
- At minimum, once you completed 12 months of eligibility you should have around 2 weeks saved up
- You have 10 months from the day you're eligible to redeem those vacation days to use them
- If you're on some medical, parental, etc leave you must use up the days immediately upon return, unless there's a written agreement otherwise between you and your boss
- Companies are allowed to just pay out vacation time on each cheque if they are hourly employees
- Vacation pay must be paid on the cheque on or before the payday on which the vacation falls
- If the working relationship is terminated, you're entitled to being paid out the vacation time you have yet to redeemed
Of course, if you're unionized, none of this will really apply to you, as vacation is generally a well-outlined issue on most collective agreements. Just ensure you're not getting less than the minimum.
So long as you know these fairly simple rules, you should be able to take at least a bit of time off this holiday season, and employers can be fairly accommodating, even if you're not yet entitled to vacation time; just ask respectfully and really early.
