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Own a business in British Columbia? Want to ensure that you are properly paying your hourly employees? Then this article is for you! Learn all about British Columbia's 2024 stat holidays, and how to pay your hourly employees.
A public holiday, or sometimes called statutory holidays or stat days, are a variety of nationalistic, religious, and cultural holidays that are legislated in Canada at the federal or provincial level. What does that all mean? As an employer, you need to know what counts as a stat holiday, how they are treated differently in each province in Canada, which days are considered stat holidays, and how the pay is calculated. Read on to find out everything you need to know about statutory holidays in British Columbia.
British Columbia observes 11 statutory holidays throughout the year. Employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or they can work and receive premium holiday pay.
Read on to learn the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay, and other rules you might not be aware of.
If you’re just getting started on payroll, check out our article about Setting up Canadian Payroll.
Christmas?! While we’re talking about this wonderful time of year, you may want to bookmark our Tips on Managing Staff during the Holidays.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July 2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia on the third Monday of February. In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, but it celebrates different things. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia celebrates Nova Scotia Heritage Day, and Islander Day is celebrated in Prince Edward Island. Therefore the answer is yes, Family Day is a stat holiday in British Columbia, recognized on the third Monday of February. In 2024, Family Day falls on Monday, February 19th.
Yes, Victoria Day is a federal statutory holiday, which means British Columbia employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or they can work and receive premium holiday pay.
Victoria Day celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday, May 24, 1819. It was originally declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845. After her death in 1901, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 each year, or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday, under the name Victoria Day. In 1952, an amendment to the Statutes of Canada established the celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25.
In 2024, Victoria Day will be celebrated on Monday, May 20, 2024.
National Truth and Reconciliation Day is a national holiday in Canada, and has recently been announced as an official provincial stat holiday in B.C. That means all employers must recognize the day as a stat holiday and provide employees with stat pay.
To be eligible for stat holiday pay in British Columbia, employees must be employed for the past 30 calendar days and have worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the statutory holiday. It’s common to believe that you must work the day before and the day after the holiday in order to qualify, but that’s not the case in British Columbia. If the employee doesn’t qualify for statutory pay but works the day they receive regular pay.
Accurately calculating stat pay for employees is a necessary and legal part of business — and it creates happy employees. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
Public holiday pay would be calculated by referencing the past 30 calendar days before the holiday, including vacation days.
Total wages ÷ number of days worked = statutory holiday pay (an average day's pay)
Include all wages: salary, vacation, commission, and stat holiday pay, but not overtime. This is the amount of holiday pay they would receive for that day.
Here's an example: In the last 30 days, Patricia is paid $16.75/hour and works 6 hour days. She has worked 17 days of the past 30. Since she has worked at least 15 days and has been employed longer than 30 days, she is eligible for stat pay. She is also eligible for premium stat pay, should she be scheduled for the day.
Example #2: Evan gets paid $17/hour and his hours the past 4 weeks are:
Week #1 = 36 hours (5 days)
Week #2 = 41 hours (5 days)
Week #3 = 31 hours (4 days)
Week #4 = 19 hours (4 days)
In total, Peter will be paid $113.94 in regular statutory pay, even if he does not work the holiday.
You gotta follow the rules. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, must be paid on time and accurately. This means that if employees have a regular or scheduled day off that falls on the holiday they still receive stat pay.
They sure do! If they qualify for it by working at least 15 days in the past 30, then part time employees get statutory holiday pay.
In addition to British Columbia stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday are entitled to time and a half for hours worked on a statutory holiday. And double time for hours over 12 hours worked.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $16.75/hour and works four 8 hour shifts. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her total stat pay:
PLUS
To sum it all up, here is an example:
Ruby’s average day's pay is $120. On the statutory holiday, if Ruby:
Can you imagine how much time you would save if you could automate your holiday pay calculations? Well you can. Push Operations has created smart software that integrates with your staffing back end to automatically calculate stat holiday pay while scheduling and paying staff. Payroll is done, and so are holiday pay calculations at the click of a button.
For further information on automating British Columbia statutory holiday calculations, connect with a helpful team member at Push today.
This document is provided by Push Technologies Inc. ("Push Operations") for information purposes only. This is not an official or legal document and should not be taken as legal advice. Push Operations does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, please check with the proper governing authority.
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