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Most employees (full and part-time) are entitled to general (stat) holidays with pay.
An employee is entitled to general holiday pay if they have worked for the same employer for at least 30 workdays in the 12 months prior to the holiday.
Most employees are entitled to general holidays and receive general holiday pay if one of the following applies to them:
If a general holiday falls on an employee's regular day of work:
If a general holiday falls on an employee's non-regular day of work:
See Alberta’s general holidays for more information.
For a step-by-step guide to how general holiday pay applies to your situation, see the Employment Standards Self-Assessment Tool – General holidays.
An employee is entitled to general holiday pay if they have worked for the same employer for at least 30 workdays in the 12 months prior to the holiday.
Most employees are entitled to general holidays and receive general holiday pay if one of the following applies to them:
An employee is not entitled to general holiday pay when they:
General holiday pay varies depending on:
Regular day of work is every workday in an employee’s normal schedule: if the employee works the same days every week, those days are considered their regular days of work. Other days are not regular days of work.
Not working on a general holiday:
Working on a general holiday:
Even if an employee works an irregular schedule, some days in their schedule may still be considered regular days of work. To see which days those are, we look at what happens the majority of the time:
This rule is sometimes called ‘The 5 of 9 rule’.
Not working on a general holiday:
Working on a general holiday:
Average daily wage is calculated as the employee's wages divided by the number of days the employee worked in either:
Employers can choose whichever option best suits their needs.
Overtime pay is not included in the calculation of average daily wage.
A general holiday is on Monday, February 15. A company’s last pay period prior to the general holiday ended on Sunday, February 7. An employee works a regular schedule of 5 days per week (or 5x4 = 20 days in 4 weeks) and makes $2000 in wages over the period of 4 weeks.
To calculate the average daily wage, the employer can choose between:
General Holiday Pay | ||
---|---|---|
Regular day of work | Not a regular day of work | |
Employee works | Hours worked x hourly wage x 1.5 + average daily wage
Or Hours worked x hourly wage + future day off at average daily wage |
Hours worked x hourly wage x 1.5 |
Employee does not work | Average daily wage | Not eligible for general holiday pay |
An employee works regular hours 5 days per week, and makes $25 per hour. In the 4 weeks (28 days) leading up to the July 1 holiday (between June 3 and June 30), the employee worked 20 days and made $2000 in wages.
To calculate how much the employee should be paid for the general holiday:
Regular day of work | Calculation/details | Total |
---|---|---|
If the employee does not work on the general holiday |
Average daily wage | $100 |
If the employee works on the general holiday |
(Hours worked x Hourly wage x 1.5) + Average daily wage Or (Hours worked x Hourly wage) + Paid day off at rate of average daily wage |
(8 hours x $25/hour x 1.5) +$100 = $400 Or (8 hours x $25/hour) = $200 + day off at $100 |
An employee makes $25/hour and works an irregular schedule. The general holiday falls on a Monday. The employee has only worked 3 Mondays in the 9 weeks prior to the holiday: according to the 5 of 9 rule, Monday is not a regular day of work.
Not a regular day of work | Calculation/details | Total |
---|---|---|
If the employee does not work on the general holiday | Not eligible for general holiday pay | $0 |
If the employee works on the general holiday | Hours worked x Hourly wage x 1.5 | 8 hours x $25/hour x 1.5 = $300 |
If an eligible employee is on vacation when a general holiday occurs, the employee can take a day off with pay on the first scheduled working day after their vacation. Or, in agreement with their employer, they can take another day that would otherwise have been a work day before their next annual vacation.
The hours worked on the holiday do not count when calculating overtime hours worked for the week in which the holiday falls.
However, there is one exception to this rule: When an employee on a regular schedule works a general holiday, instead of paying them the general holiday pay, the employer may offer a day off in lieu. In this case, the general holiday is treated like a standard workday. For the hours worked on the general holiday, the employee receives their standard wage rate and standard overtime rules apply. For the day off in lieu, the employee receives their average daily wage.
Incentive pay plans include commission, flat rate, mileage or piecework compensation.
If an employee paid by incentive pay works on a general holiday, they are entitled to their average daily wage plus 1.5 times the hourly wage.
If an employee paid by incentive pay does not work on the general holiday, they are entitled to their average daily wage.
To calculate average daily wage, employers can choose to divide the total wages earned by the number of days worked in either:
To calculate the hourly wage for an employee paid by incentive pay, determine if the employee is paid entirely by commission or incentive pay or if they also earn a salary:
General holidays can be postponed to a later date. If an employee’s employment is terminated before a postponed holiday is taken, the following applies:
If the employer terminates the employment, the employee must receive:
If the employee quits, they will be paid the average daily wage for each general holiday deferred and still not taken.
See Termination and termination pay for more information.
The following employees are not eligible for general holidays and general holiday pay:
The following industries have different rules for the entitlement to general holidays and general holiday pay.
Due to the nature of the employment and work in the construction industry, construction employees are not usually given general holidays off with pay.
The Employment Standards Regulation creates special rules for on-site construction workers. These rules provide a benefit equal to that of employees in other industries who are given a day off with pay for each general holiday.
Construction employee rules specify that:
General holiday pay must be paid to construction employees:
Due to the nature of employment and work in the farm and ranch sector, waged, non-family farm and ranch employees are not usually given general holidays off with pay.
Farm and ranch employee rules specify that:
If an employee works on a general holiday as their regular workday, the employer must pay an amount that is at least equal to the employee’s wage rate for each hour of work on the general holiday and either:
If an employee does not work on a general holiday as their regular workday, the employer must:
See below for the previous general holiday pay rules. All other rules are valid prior to November 1, 2020 except for:
Average daily wage is calculated as 5% of the employee’s wages, general holiday pay and vacation pay earned in the 4 weeks immediately preceding the general holiday.
An employee works regular hours and makes $20 per hour. The employee's vacation pay is paid out on each cheque. In the 4 weeks (28 days) leading up to the July 1 holiday (between June 3 and June 30), the employee worked 141 hours.
Calculation/details | Total | |
---|---|---|
Wages | Hours worked in previous 28 days x Hourly wage | 141 Hours x $20/hr = $2820 |
Vacation pay | 4% of wages | $2820 x 0.04 = $112.80 |
General holiday pay (from previous general holidays)* | There were no general holidays between June 3 and June 30 | 0 |
Average daily wage | 5% of (Wages + Vacation pay + General holiday pay) | ($2820 + $112.80 + $0) x 0.05 = $146.64 |
* The first step in calculating general holiday pay is to calculate average daily wage.
Then we can calculate the total owed based on whether the employee works on the general holiday.
Regular day of work | Calculation/details | Total |
---|---|---|
If the employee does not work on the general holiday | Average daily wage | $146.64 |
If the employee works on the general holiday | (Hours worked x Hourly wage x 1.5) + Average daily wage Or (Hours worked x Hourly wage) + Paid day off at rate of average daily wage
|
(8 hours x $20/hour x 1.5) + $146.64 = $386.64 Or (8 hours x $20/hour) = $160 + Day off at $164.64
|
An employee makes $20/hour and works an irregular schedule. The general holiday falls on a Monday. The employee has only worked 3 Mondays in the 9 weeks prior to the holiday: according to the 5 of 9 rule, Monday is not a regular day of work.
Not a regular day of work | Calculation/details | Total |
---|---|---|
If the employee does not work on the general holiday | Not eligible for general holiday pay | $0 |
If the employee works on the general holiday | Hours worked x Hourly wage x 1.5
|
8 hours x $20/hour x 1.5 = $240
|
Part 2, Division 5 of the Employment Standards Code provides the general requirements and entitlement to general holidays and general holiday pay.
Part 4 of the Employment Standards Regulation provides different rules for general holidays and general holiday pay for construction employees.
Disclaimer: In the event of any discrepancy between this information and Alberta Employment Standards legislation, the legislation is considered correct.
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