How to Calculate Statutory Holiday Pay in Alberta and British Columbia
Calculating statutory holiday pay is tricky. We’ll describe it here.
Calculating it in different provinces is tricky too; labour laws are a provincial jurisdiction. This means rules change. Examples will contrast Alberta and British Columbia (BC).
Note: This article describes how to pay an employee on a day s/he DOES NOT work on the stat holiday. It DOES NOT cover what to pay s/he when working a stat holiday.
An employee rightfully receives pay for a day when he or she is unable to work because their employer is closed due to a statutory holiday. Examples of a statutory (or just ‘stat’) holiday are New Year’s Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, and Christmas.
This applies only to hourly-paid employees. Salaried employees are already paid for stat holidays by their salaries.
Most stat holidays are the same across Canada. There are local variances province to province. Here are the lists for Alberta and British Columbia.
We’re going to compare Alberta and BC using typical examples to illustrate the differences.
First, these are the rules for the two provinces (click the province names to see their descriptions):
- Employee must have worked 30 days during the previous 12 months
- The stat holiday must be a regular workday for the employee
- Employees are paid their average daily wage over the past 28 days
- Average daily hours is the total number of hours worked divided by the number of days worked, during the prior 28 days
- E.g. Jenny worked 15 of the previous 28 days before a stat holiday. She worked a total of 90 hours. This her average daily hours is 90 hours ÷ 15 days worked = 6 hours/day.
- General Holiday Pay = 5% of the sum of:
- Average daily hours x regular hourly wage PLUS
- Vacation pay for the pay period (typically 4%, but varies by employee) PLUS
- Stat holiday pay received in the previous four weeks (e.g. Christmas/New Year’s)
- E.g Jenny’s General Holiday Pay is 6 hours x $20/hour = $120.00
- Employee must have been hired within the prior 30 days, AND must have earned wages in at least 15 of those 30 prior to the stat holiday
- Base the calculation on days worked during the 30 calendar days before the stat holiday, including vacation days you had
- Statutory Holiday Pay = Total earnings (excluding overtime pay) ÷ the number of days worked
- Earnings includes wages, salary, commission, prior stat holiday pay, and vacation pay
NOTE: The result is a gross amount that’s added to other earnings during the pay period. All earnings are subject to the usual statutory deductions (tax, EI, CPP).
Example 1 – Josh
Josh works at a retail store that is usually closed Mondays, and earns $17.50/hr. During the 28 days before Labour Day he worked 136 hours while working on 18 of those days. During the prior 30 days he worked 146 hours while working on 20 of those days.
Alberta:
Total wages during prior 28 days = 136 hours worked x $17.50/hours
= $2,380.00
Vacation Pay earned = 4% x $2,380.00 = $95.20
Total earnings = $2,380.00 + $95.20 = $2,475.20
General Holiday Pay =$2,475.20 ÷ 18 days worked
= $137.51
BC:
Total earnings in prior 30 days = 146 hours x $17.50/hour + vacation pay
= $2,555.00 + $102.20 = $2,607.20
Statutory Holiday Pay = $2,607.20 ÷ 20 days worked = $130.36
Example 2 – Amanda
Amanda worked at a ski resort at season’s end last March, for the whole month. She worked five weeks, with 3 hours on Mon., Wed., and Fri., and 6 hours on Tue. and Thu. She was laid off for the summer, returning in mid-August. She worked all five days in the week before Labour Day, with the same schedule of hours as during March. She was paid $22/hr.
Hours worked per week = 3 days x 3 hrs./day + 2 days x 6 hrs./day = 21 hrs./week
Alberta:
Only Amanda’s hours worked during the week prior to Labour Day count towards the calculation of General Holiday Pay. With this 5 days of work, plus the 25 days worked back in March, Amanda reaches (barely!) the 30-day threshold to be eligible.
Total earnings = 21 hours x $22.00/hour + 4% vacation pay
= $462.00 + $18.48 = $480.48
General Holiday Pay = 5% x $480.48 = $24.04
BC:
Amanda worked only 5 of the 30 days prior to Labour Day. She is not eligible for Statutory Holiday Pay in BC.
Example 3 – George
George works 40 hours/week, Tuesday to Saturday, 8 hours/day. He worked for five weeks in the lead-up to Labour Day. His hourly rate was $25.
Alberta:
Labour Day is a Monday, which is a day George does not usually work. George isn’t eligible for General Holiday Pay in Alberta.
BC:
George worked the five weeks before Labour Day, which is 35 days. In the 30 days prior to Labour Day he actually worked 21 of them. This exceeds the threshold of 15.
Total earnings in prior 30 days = 21 days x 8 hours/day x $25.00/hour + vacation pay
= $4,200.00 + $168.00 = $4,368.00
Statutory Holiday Pay = $4,368.00 ÷ 21 days worked = $208.00
There are some combinations of circumstances not covered here. But I hope this is enough to help you understand the calculation of statutory holiday pay in Alberta and BC.
