Qualify for statutory holiday pay

Employees get paid for statutory holidays if they're qualified.

On this page

• Basic rules
• Excluded employees
• What you can do

Basic rules

Employees receive statutory holiday pay if they:

• Have been employed for 30 calendar days

and

• Have worked or earned wages (like paid vacation days or another statutory holiday) on 15 of the 30 days before a statutory holiday

Some people think employees only need to work the day before and the day after to qualify for statutory holiday pay. This isn't the case in B.C.

If an employee does not qualify for statutory holiday pay, they are paid regular pay for working on a statutory holiday.

Excluded employees

Some employees do not receive statutory holiday pay. Check the Employment Standards Regulation for more information:

• Section 33 Nursing students and volunteer fire fighters
• Section 34.1 Farm workers
• Section 36 Managers
• Section 37 Fishers
• 37.8(2) High technology professionals
• 37.9(8) Silviculture workers - if they get 4.4% on each pay cheque in lieu
• 37.14 (1) Commission sales - if all wages earned in the pay period would be greater than amount earned at base rate (or minimum wage) plus overtime and stats
• 37.14(4) Car and truck sales - if they get 4.4% on each paycheque in lieu

What you can do

Dig deeper. Find out if you qualify for statutory holiday pay by answering a series of questions about your specific work situation.

Calculate statutory holiday pay. Statutory holiday pay is equal to an average day's pay. Employees are paid statutory holiday pay if they work or take the day off.