‘Holiday pay’ and ‘Time in lieu’ are actually very different. Holiday pay is pay for ‘standard’ holidays, either public or at least consistently recognized by the employer. Time in lieu is paid time off in exchange for overtime work.
Holiday pay is pay for days that an employee doesn’t have to work, because they are public holidays. In Ontario, these days are: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Public holidays vary in different jurisdictions. Also, some employers choose to provide holiday pay for days which are not official public holidays, but are frequently observed. For example, in Ontario, employers often acknowledge Civic Holiday the first Monday in August. Public holiday pay is based on the previous four weeks of work, and can be calculated here. The calculation i:s (regular wages from 4 weeks previous + vacation pay from 4 weeks previous) / 20. You add up the last month of earnings and divide by 20 because there are 20 working days in a normal month.
In the entertainment field — and others — it’s not uncommon for employers to ask their staff to work on a public holiday. Employees have the option to agree in writing to work the day and receive either public holiday pay plus premium pay for the hours worked on the holiday OR their regular rate plus holiday pay on a ‘substitute’ day off. In this case, the holiday rate would be calculated on the four weeks previous to the substitute holiday, not the original holiday. Some jobs do not entitle employees to take public holidays off. More details on public holiday pay in Ontario can be found here.
‘Time in lieu’ is paid time instead of overtime pay. The Employment Standards Act sets out rules on overtime pay; in most cases it is time-and-a-half (1 ½ times regular pay) for hours worked beyond 44 in a week. An employee and employer can agree in writing to time in lieu, also sometimes called ‘banked time’. In Ontario, if an employee has agreed to bank overtime hours, the employer must provide 1 ½ hours of paid time off for each hour of overtime worked. The time off must be taken within 3 months or, if an agreement is made in writing, within 12 months. If employment ends before the employee takes the paid time off, the employer must pay him or her overtime pay instead.
