Canadian Statutory Holiday Rules

Federally regulated employees are entitled to nine paid holidays each year. (New Years, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day). Note, that there are differences between regulations pertaining to federal employees, provincially regulated employees and workers in the private sector.

If a holiday falls on a non-workday then another day will be observed as the holiday - usually the preceding Friday or the following Monday. The Labour Standards Act leaves it up to the employer to decide, which day will be observed as a holiday so check with your human resources department to be sure. (Also, view the 2011 statutory holiday calendar for holiday dates in 2011).Canada Day is usually observed on July 1st but if that's a Sunday then Monday will be given as a day off. If it's a Saturday then normally Friday becomes the day off.

On national statutory holidays in Canada, also called as public holidays, all federal offices including banks are closed. Most employees are entitled by law to take the day off and receive full salary for the day, however, some businesses may require employees to work on statutory holidays - in these cases the workers must be compensated financially (1.5x or 2x their regular wages) and in some cases they are also given another day off. Be sure, however, to coordinate this with your boss; never take your holiday schedule for granted!

More information is available on the HRSDC website.

Back to the list of statutory holidays.