Employment Standards Act - General Holidays

To Whom Does This Apply?

To qualify to be paid for a general holiday, employees must:

• Earn wages for part, or all of at least 15 out of the 30 calendar days immediately before the general holiday.
• Be available for work on the regular working day immediately before and after the general holiday, unless authorized by the employer to be absent.
• Report to work after having been called to work on the general holiday, except where the employee is dismissed, laid off, or is ill.

Exception: Minimum wage earners are not required to earn wages for the 15 out of the 30 calendar days prior to the holiday if the general holiday falls on the earner's regularly scheduled work day and the employee does not work on the general holiday. However, the minimum wage earner must work a regularly scheduled shift immediately before and after the general holiday, as well as on all the other work days of the week in which the general holiday falls, to qualify to be paid regular wages for that day and to have the day off.

Summary

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Where a general holiday falls on a day that is a non-working day for an employee and the employee qualifies to
  be paid for the general holiday, the employee is entitled to a holiday with pay not later than the time of his or her next annual vacation, or at a mutually agreeable time.
• An employee who works on a general holiday must be paid 1 ½ times his or her regular rate of pay for all hours worked on the general holiday. In addition, the employee must be paid his or her regular rate of pay for the general holiday.
• Employees of continuously operating plants, seasonal industries (except the construction industry), amusement places, gasoline stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and domestic services may be paid their regular rate of pay for working on the general holiday provided they are given another day off with pay, equal to the hours they worked on the general holiday.
  (NOTE: The time off with pay is to be given within 30 days of the general holiday or at another time with the agreement of the employer and the employee.)
• When New Year's Day, Canada Day, or Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday that is a non-working day,
  the employee is entitled to a holiday with pay on the working day immediately following the general holiday.
• Where an employee does not work on a general holiday, the employer shall not require him or her to work on another day in that week that would otherwise be the employee's day of rest, unless the employee is paid at the rate of 1 ½ times his or her regular rate for the time worked that day.
• Where the wages of an employee vary from day to day, the pay for a general holiday on which the employee has not worked shall be at least equivalent to his or her average daily earnings exclusive of overtime for the days on which he or she worked during the 30 calendar days immediately preceding the general holiday.
• If a general holiday falls during the time an employee is on vacation, that day is not counted as part of the vacation leave. If an employee qualifies for the general holiday, the employee would receive regular pay for that day. If the employee does not qualify, that day would be a day off without pay or the employee could request to take that day as a vacation day

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this section is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. For particular questions, the users are invited to contact their lawyer. For additional information, see contact(s) listed below.

Manitoba Contact(s):
Winnipeg Employment Centre
Manitoba Education Citizenship and Youth
391 York Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3C 0P4
Telephone: (204) 945-8341
E-mail: mgi@gov.mb.ca