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Annual vacation entitlement for B.C. government employees

Last updated on July 3, 2024

Your number of vacation days depends on your bargaining unit, your employment status, how many hours you work and how many years you've been in the BC Public Service. Vacation years are defined as the period from January 1 to December 31.

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Vacation earned

An employee’s first vacation year is the calendar year in which they celebrate the first anniversary of their employment with the BC Public Service. Employees hired part-way through a calendar year earn vacation for that first partial-year. The rate at which vacation is earned in the first partial-year is set out in the respective collective agreement or terms and conditions of employment. 

For example, a regular employee hired part-way through the current year would be in their first partial-year until December 31. As of January 1 of the next year, the employee is in their first vacation year because that's the year in which they mark their first anniversary of employment.

Annual vacation entitlements for regular full-time employees are as follows:

Vacation
year

Excluded
employees

BCGEU
employees

PEA
employees

BC Nurses' Union
employees
  Days Hours Days Hours Days Hours 7-hour shifts 7.5-hour shifts

1st

20

140

15

105

20

140

20

18.667

2nd

20

140

15

105

20

140

20

18.667

3rd

20

140

16

112

20

140

20

18.667

4th

20

140

17

119

20

140

20

18.667

5th

20

140

19

133

20

140

20

18.667

6th

20

140

20

140

20

140

21

19.600

7th

20

140

20

140

20

140

22

20.533

8th

22

154

22

154

22

154

23

21.467

9th

23

161

23

161

23

161

24

22.400

10th

25

175

24

168

24

168

25

23.333

11th

25

175

25

175

25

175

26

24.267

12th

26

182

26

182

26

182

27

25.200

13th

27

189

27

189

27

189

28

26.133

14th

27

189

27

189

27

189

29

27.067

15th

27

189

27

189

27

189

30

28.000

16th

28

196

28

196

28

196

31

28.933

17th

28

196

28

196

28

196

32

29.867

18th

28

196

28

196

28

196

33

30.800

19th

29

203

29

203

29

203

34

31.733

20th

31

217

31

217

31

217

35

32.667

21st

32

224

32

224

32

224

N/A

N/A

22nd

33

231

33

231

33

231

N/A

N/A

23rd

34

238

34

238

34

238

N/A

N/A

24th

34

238

34

238

34

238

N/A

N/A

25th
and thereafter

35

245

35

245

35

245

N/A

N/A

Review how much vacation time you currently have.

Auxiliary employees

Auxiliary employees begin to earn annual vacation entitlement once they’ve completed 1,827 hours in 33 consecutive pay periods.

Before they reach this hour requirement, they receive vacation pay at six percent of their regular earnings on each biweekly pay cheque.

They're also able to take a leave of absence without pay for up to 15 workdays (maximum of 105 hours) after working for six months.

Vacation adjustments for remote locations

Starting with the 2010 vacation year, an extra vacation day (based on a seven hour workday) is given to employees who reside and work in one of the following remote locations in British Columbia:

  • Alert Bay
  • Alexis Creek
  • Atlin
  • Bella Coola (including Hagensborg and Waglisla)
  • Burns Lake
  • Chetwynd
  • Dawson Creek
  • Dease Lake
  • Fort St. James
  • Fort St. John
  • Fort Nelson
  • Fraser Lake
  • Gold River
  • Haida Gwaii (including Daajing Giids)
  • Hazelton
  • Houston
  • Hudson’s Hope
  • Kitimat
  • McBride
  • MacKenzie
  • New Denver
  • Port Alice
  • Port Hardy
  • Port McNeill
  • Prince Rupert
  • Smithers
  • Stewart
  • Terrace
  • Tumbler Ridge
  • Valemount