Labour Standards Code Covers Five Holidays

The Department of Labour receives calls almost daily from employees and employers expressing concerns about statutory holidays and pay entitlement.

The provincial Labour Standards Code entitles employees who qualify to five paid holidays a year: Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Canada Day and Labour Day. A separate law covers Remembrance Day.

WORKERS WHO QUALIFY

An employee must be entitled to receive pay for 15 of the 30 calendar days prior to one of those five holidays to qualify for a paid holiday. This does not mean the employee must have worked 15 of the 30 days. The important words are "entitled to receive pay." For example, if an employee is sick and the employer has paid sick time, or if the employee is attending a course and is being paid wages for attending, the employee may still qualify for the paid holiday.

The employee must also have worked his or her last scheduled shift or day before the holiday and the first scheduled shift or day after the holiday. The important word is "scheduled." Many people believe this means that if the employee does not work the day after the holiday then the employee is not qualified to receive holiday pay. If the day is one on which the employee is not scheduled to work, then he or she may still qualify for the paid holiday.

EXCEPTION

If an employer tells an employee not to report for work on the last scheduled workday immediately before the holiday, or the next scheduled workday after the holiday, the employee is still entitled to receive holiday pay.

WORKERS WHO ARE NOT COVERED

Workers who are not covered by the rules for holiday pay include:

• certain farm workers
• real estate and car salespeople
• certain commissioned salespeople who make sales at locations other than at the employer's premises, except those on an established route
• those who work on a fishing boat
• those who work in the manufacturing or refining processes of the petrochemical industry
• people employed in a private home by the householder to provide domestic service for a member of the employer's immediate family or for 24 hours or less per week
• anyone in a union with a collective agreement in force where the collective agreement prevails

PAYING AN EMPLOYEE FOR A HOLIDAY

If an employee meets the two qualifications and is given the day off, the employer must pay a regular day's pay for that holiday.

If the employee's hours of work change daily, or if wages change each pay period, the employer could average hours or wages over 30 days to calculate what to pay the employee for the holiday.

If the holiday falls on an employee's regular day off, the employee is entitled to another day off with pay.

CALCULATING PAY WHEN THE EMPLOYEE WORKS ON A HOLIDAY

An employee who works on a holiday and qualifies for holiday pay is entitled to receive both of the following:

• the amount the employee would have normally received for that day
• one and a half times the employee's regular rate of wages for the number of hours worked on that holiday

WHEN THE EMPLOYEE WORKS IN A CONTINUOUS OPERATION

Employees who work in a continuous operation are paid for holidays in a different way.

A continuous operation is:

• any industrial establishment in which production continues without stopping
• any service that runs trucks and other vehicles
• any telephone or other communications service
• any service or production where employees work normally on Sundays or public holidays

In a continuous operation, the employer can pay for holidays worked in one of two ways:

• according to the calculation already described
• by paying straight time for the hours worked and giving the employee another day off with pay

REMEMBRANCE DAY

An employee who works Remembrance Day and who has worked on at least 15 of the 30 calendar days immediately before Remembrance Day may be entitled to receive a holiday with pay. That day with pay may be taken at the end of the employee's vacation or any other day the employee and employer may agree upon.

An Act Respecting the Observance of Remembrance Day, passed in 1981 and unique to Nova Scotia, details the businesses that are permitted to operate on Nov. 11, and the penalties that can be imposed on firms that violate the law. It is important for all Nova Scotians to make themselves familiar with the act.

Anyone who has a concern with holiday entitlement and holiday pay should contact the Department of Labour Standards Division, in Halifax 902-424-4311, or in Sydney 902-563-2181.