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If Employee Is Required to Work on Statutory Holiday - Act Part 5, Section 46

Last updated on March 6, 2024

Contents:

Summary
Text of Legislation
Policy Interpretation
Related Information

Summary

This section explains the statutory holiday wages that must be paid to eligible employees who work on statutory holidays. 

Text of Legislation

46 An employee who works on a statutory holiday must be paid for that day

(a) 1 1/2 times the employee's regular wage for the time worked up to 12 hours,

(b) double the employee's regular wage for any time worked over 12 hours, and

(c) an average day's pay, as determined using the formula in section 45 (1).

Policy Interpretation

Subsections (a) (b) (c)

An eligible employee, as noted in s.44, who works on a statutory holiday is entitled to time and one-half for the first 12 hours worked and double time for any work over 12 hours. They are also entitled to an average day's pay in accordance with s.45 of the Act.

Example

An employee works in the hospitality industry and earns $20 an hour. They are entitled to statutory holiday pay under section 44 of the Act. The employee is given Christmas Day off but works 10 hours on New Year's Day. The employee worked 19 eight-hour shifts in the 30 calendar days preceding New Year’s Day and was also paid an average day’s pay of $160.00 for Christmas Day.

The employee is entitled to be paid $460.00 for New Year’s Day, calculated as follows:

1. Average Day’s pay:

19 days worked in preceding 30 days x 8 hours/day x $20/hour = $3,040.00

Average day’s pay earned for Christmas Day (8 hrs x $20/hr) =     $  160.00

Total:                                                                                                $3,200.00

$3,200.00 wages earned ÷ 20 days worked or earned wages = $160.00

2. Wages earned for working on New Year’s Day:

10 hours @ time and a half (1.5 x $20) = $300.00

Total statutory holiday pay owing = $460.00

Shifts that straddle midnight:

What wages are owed to an employee whose shift starts on a statutory holiday but finishes on a regular working day?

In accordance with the definition of "day" in s.1 of the Act, if an employee's shift starts on a statutory holiday and the shift continues over midnight, the employee is entitled to statutory holiday pay for work performed for the entire shift (because the start of the shift commenced on the Statutory Holiday).

Example

A night shift gas attendant commences their normal 8-hour shift at 10:00 pm on July 1 (Canada Day). The shift ends at 7:00 am on July 2. This scheduled shift includes a one hour unpaid meal break. In accordance with the definition of "day" in s.1 of the Act, the employee is entitled to statutory holiday pay for all hours worked during the shift because the shift started on the statutory holiday.

The employee is also entitled to an average day's pay in accordance with s.45(1).

What wages are owed to an employee whose shift starts on a regular working day but ends on a statutory holiday?

If a shift continues over midnight but started on the day before the statutory holiday, there is no entitlement to statutory holiday pay even for the hours of work actually performed on the statutory holiday (because the start of the shift commenced on the day before the statutory holiday.

Example

Another night shift gas attendant commences their normal 8-hour shift at 10:00 pm on June 30. The shift is scheduled to end at 7:00 am on July 1 (Canada Day). They do not work at any other time on July 1. This scheduled shift includes a one-hour unpaid meal break. In accordance with the definition of "day" in s.1 of the Act, the employee is not entitled to any statutory holiday pay for time worked on the June 30th to July 1 shift because the shift did not commence on the statutory holiday.

However, the employee is entitled to an average day's pay in accordance with s.45(1).

Employees covered by a collective agreement

If a collective agreement contains any provisions about statutory holidays that meet or exceed the requirements of Part 5, those provisions of the collective agreement replace the Act’s requirements for employees covered by the agreement. Otherwise, the Act’s requirements are deemed to be incorporated in the collective agreement.

Where there is a collective agreement, disputes respecting the application, interpretation or operation of Part 5 must be resolved through the grievance procedure, not through the enforcement provisions of the Act.

Related Information

Related sections of the Act or Regulation

ESA

ESR