As an employer, paying your employees for public holidays can sometimes be quite complex. Here’s a short guide outlining the main points you need to know about the allowance to be paid and any other important details concerning the remuneration of your staff during statutory leave.
What is the holiday pay?
For non-commissioned employees: 1/20 of the salary earned during the 4 complete pay weeks preceding the week of leave (tips must be taken into account, but not overtime).
For employees paid in whole or in part on commission: 1/60 of wages earned over the previous 12 weeks.
For most people working full time, that’s the equivalent of a day’s pay! However, the allowance will generally be lower for a person working part-time.
It is important to note that collective agreements may provide for different rules. Also, if you are a non-unionized employee working in an establishment where statutory vacations are governed by the collective agreement for unionized workers, you will be entitled to the same vacations as your unionized colleagues.
Can I have employees work on public holidays?
Yes.
You will then have to pay for the hours worked on the public holiday and provide compensation in one of the following ways:
- Pay the cash compensation described above.
- Give a day’s compensatory leave (This is not unpaid leave! You will have to pay an amount equivalent to the cash allowance described above for this day).
- Compensatory leave must be taken within three weeks before or after the holiday.
What about employees who are not at work on the holiday?
If your employee is on annual leave during the holiday, you have the choice of paying the indemnity or offering compensatory leave. Leave must be taken on a date agreed between you and your employee.
The same applies if this day is not part of the employee’s regular work schedule. For example, if the employee works from Tuesday to Friday, he or she will be entitled to compensatory leave or vacation pay for Labor Day, even though the vacation falls on a Monday.
**Warning! In order to be entitled to compensation or compensatory leave, the employee must not have been absent, without your authorization or without a valid reason, on the workday preceding or following the holiday**.
Here’s a tool to help you calculate compensation: https: //www.services.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/outilscalcul/jourferie
Sources :
https://www.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/conges-et-absences/jours-feries/index.html
https://www.educaloi.qc.ca/capsules/les-conges-feries
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions about holiday pay!
