How does vacation pay work in canada

Note: The vacation pay must be paid within seven days of the date Dini's employment was terminated or by what would have been Dini's next pay day, whichever is later. A public holiday could fall during an employee's vacation period. In that case, the day remains a vacation day for the employee, and if the employee qualifies for the public holiday, the employee is entitled to one of the following:.

Employees may also agree electronically or in writing to work on a public holiday that falls while they are on vacation. Because there is no break in the employment relationship during a period of pregnancy, parental, sick, family responsibility, bereavement, declared emergency, family caregiver, family medical, critical illness, domestic or sexual violence, organ donor, reservist, child death or crime-related child disappearance leave, the time on leave counts toward the completion of a vacation entitlement year or stub period.

For example, an employee on leave for all or only part of a vacation entitlement year would have earned a full two weeks of vacation time at the end of the vacation entitlement year. The vacation pay earned during that vacation entitlement year would be a minimum of four per cent or six per cent depending on the employee's length of employment of any wages actually earned during the year. Where an employee's contract provides that "paid vacation" is earned through active service e.

However, at the end of the vacation entitlement year or stub period, the employer must ensure the employee receives the greater of what was in fact earned under the contract and the minimum vacation time and vacation pay, they would have earned under the ESA.

Ingrid's contract of employment provides that she earns two paid vacation days for every month of active service. In other words, vacation time and vacation pay are earned together through active service. Although Ingrid's length of service continues to accrue while she is on pregnancy and parental leave, she is not credited with "active" service while on leave. Ingrid's period of employment at the end of the vacation entitlement year in which she took her leave is three years.

At the end of that vacation entitlement year, her employer determines that she has earned 12 paid vacation days under her contract of employment. Because she regularly works five days a week, she has earned enough vacation time under her contract to exceed the two-week minimum required under the ESA for an employee whose period of employment is less than five years.

In addition, the employer is able to show that 12 days of regular wages exceeds four per cent of the wages she had actually earned during the vacation entitlement year. Tony's contract provides that he earns three weeks of paid vacation for every year of active service.

He is on a parental leave for eight months of his vacation entitlement year. At the end of that vacation entitlement year, his period of employment is four years. In other words, he earned one week of paid vacation for the vacation entitlement year.

However, his employer must ensure that Tony receives at least the minimum ESA vacation entitlements of two weeks of vacation time and four per cent vacation pay for an employee whose period of employment is less than five years.

The employer will therefore have to provide Tony with another week of vacation time and ensure the week of vacation pay earned under the contract is not less than four per cent of the gross wages he had actually earned in the vacation entitlement year. An employee who is on a pregnancy, parental, sick, family responsibility, bereavement, declared emergency, family caregiver, family medical, critical illness, organ donor, reservist, domestic or sexual violence, child death or crime-related child disappearance leave has the right to defer taking her or his vacation entitlement until the leave of absence expires or until some later date if the employer and employee agree.

This is the case even if the employee's contract of employment states that the employee is not allowed to defer taking vacation or restricts an employee's ability to do so. This means that an employee who is on a leave of absence under the ESA will not lose any vacation time or vacation pay because they are on a leave.

It also ensures that an employee does not have to choose between taking less than their full leave entitlement and losing some or all of their vacation pay or vacation time. An employee who has the right to defer vacation until the expiry of a leave of absence may forego their right to take vacation time, with the agreement of the employer and the approval of the Director of Employment Standards, Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. However, an employee cannot forego their right to be paid vacation pay.

The employer must also keep records of the vacation pay earned and paid to the employee during the vacation entitlement year and stub period, if any and how the amount was calculated. These records must be made no later than seven days after the start of the next vacation entitlement year or first vacation entitlement year if the records relate to a stub period or the first pay day after the stub period or vacation entitlement year ends, whichever is later.

Employees may request in writing a statement containing the information in the employer's vacation records. The employer is required to provide the information no later than:. If the employee asks for information concerning the current vacation entitlement year or stub period, the employer is required to provide the information no later than:.

The employer is required to provide the information with respect to each vacation entitlement year or stub period only once. If the employee has agreed that vacation pay will be paid on each pay cheque as it is earned, the employer does not need to keep records and provide statements about vacation pay as discussed above.

Instead, the employer must report the vacation pay that is being paid separately from the amount of other wages on each wage statement, or provide a separate statement setting out the vacation pay that is being paid. The employer must also keep a record of that information. A recurring month period chosen by the employer to begin on a date other than the employee's date of hire e.

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development advances safe, fair and harmonious workplace practices that are essential to the social and economic well-being of the people of Ontario. Skip to main content. Key definitions The increased entitlements to vacation time and vacation pay three weeks' vacation time and six per cent vacation pay for employees with five or more years of employment only apply to vacation entitlement years or stub periods that end on or after December 31, Vacation entitlement year The month period over which employees earn vacation.

Standard vacation entitlement year A recurring month period beginning on the date of hire. Alternative vacation entitlement year A recurring month period chosen by the employer to begin on a date other than the employee's date of hire e. Stub period Period between the date of hire and beginning of the first alternative vacation entitlement year or, the period between the end of a standard vacation entitlement year and the beginning of an alternative vacation entitlement year where the employer switches from a standard vacation entitlement year to an alternative vacation entitlement year e.

Vacation entitlement year and stub period will include time the employee spends away from work because of: layoff sickness or injury pregnancy, parental, declared emergency, family caregiver, family medical, critical illness, organ donor, reservist, domestic or sexual violence, child death, or crime-related child disappearance leaves any other approved leaves i.

Example 1: On March 1, , Oakley had completed four years of employment with his employer. Example 2: Jamieson was hired by his employer on June 1, Vacation time The entitlement to two or three weeks of vacation time is determined by the employee's period of employment upon completion of each vacation entitlement year.

An employment contract or collective agreement may provide a greater vacation time entitlement. Standard vacation entitlement year If the vacation entitlement year is a standard one, 12 months after the date of hire, the employee will be entitled to a minimum of two weeks of vacation time. Example: standard vacation entitlement year Ava is hired on June 1, She also then earns two weeks in each of the following three vacation entitlement years: June 1, , to May 31, June 1, , to May 31, June 1, , to May 31, On May 31, , Ava has completed five years of employment and so will be entitled to three weeks of vacation for the vacation entitlement year June 1, to May 31, Alternative vacation entitlement year If an employer sets an alternative vacation entitlement year, the employee will be entitled to a pro-rated amount of two weeks' vacation for the stub period preceding the start of the first alternative vacation entitlement year.

Example: alternative vacation entitlement year Jocelyn was hired on September 1, Jocelyn will also be entitled to two weeks of vacation time upon completing each of the following vacation entitlement years: January 1 to December 31, January 1 to December 31, January 1 to December 31, Since Jocelyn will have reached the five-year employment threshold on August 31, , she will be entitled to three weeks of vacation time for the completed vacation entitlement year ending December 31, Calculating stub period vacation entitlements When the employee has a regular work week The vacation time entitlement for a stub period is calculated as two or three weeks of vacation two weeks for employees with less than five years of employment and three weeks for employees with 5 or more years multiplied by the ratio R of the length of the stub period to 12 months.

Example 1: An employee has a regular work week. The employee was hired September 1 and the alternative vacation entitlement year begins the following January 1.

Each province has its own laws on how much vacation time and vacation pay employers must give their employees. In Alberta, employers must generally provide employees with both once they become eligible. Vacation pay and vacation time are different things, and in order to be compliant with the law, employers must understand how to provide both correctly.

According the Employment Standards Code ESC , employees in Alberta become eligible for vacation time with vacation pay after one year of employment.

This means they must work one year before they can take any vacation and be paid for their time off. Employers may choose to provide employees with their vacation entitlements earlier than this, however they are not legally required to do so. The amount of time employees receive annually for vacation depends on how long they have been with the same employer.

Employees who have worked for the same employer for 4 years or less are entitled to 2 weeks of vacation time each year. Employees who have been employed longer than 5 years are entitled to 3 weeks. Vacation time must be provided by employers and must be taken by employees. When employees are paid monthly, their vacation pay for each week is calculated by dividing their monthly earnings by 4. The employer must then pay the employee for each week of vacation time taken. Vacation time is the length of time employees may take off work, and vacation pay is the amount of pay employers must provide their employees when they take this time off.

However, your boss can refuse to give you a vacation at a certain time. If you have worked less than 12 months, your boss does not have to agree to give you a vacation before your first 12 months of work are done. If you were scheduled to work but did not, your employer can reduce your vacation and vacation pay in proportion to the number of days you did not work. Still looking for more information? Visit our Your Rights at Work page with more information about employment laws in Alberta.

This website provides general legal information only. It does not provide legal or professional advice. See Disclaimer for more information. Copyright Legal Resource Centre of Alberta. Which employees do NOT get vacations and vacation pay? Last Reviewed: August Are the rules the same for construction workers? Construction workers are not entitled to annual vacations with pay. An employer must pay vacation pay on whichever of the following occurs first: annually before December 31 st each year OR on the day before the construction worker starts an annual vacation if the construction worker gets one.

You are entitled to take a vacation with pay after working for the same employer for one year. Yes, as long as you are eligible for vacations and vacation pay. Last Reviewed: August What is the minimum vacation time that I am entitled to as an employee? In contrast, the UK is ranked second in the most amount of paid vacation or annual leave — 28 days per year, which totals to 5. According to the UK Government , this applies to almost all workers working a 5-day week including agency workers, workers with irregular hours and workers on zero-hour contracts.

Employers can include the 8 UK bank holidays as part of the annual leave entitlement, depending on how the employment contract is structured. However, these holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. For those working different shifts with fixed hours, their pay is calculated based on the average number of weekly fixed hour they have worked in the previous 52 weeks at the average hourly rate.