Overview: Holiday Pay

Navigating statutory holiday pay can be tricky for employers, especially with the specific rules and calculations required under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA). However, it's crucial to stay compliant and ensure your employees are compensated fairly and correctly on statutory holidays. In this post, we'll break down requirements for statutory holiday pay in Ontario so you can meet your obligations with confidence.

Definitions:

• Public holiday

• Also known as a “stat holiday”, a public holiday is a day designated by the provincial government where most workers are given a day off with pay. These holidays are meant to celebrate or commemorate important cultural, historical, or religious events.

• Premium Pay

• Pay rate of 1.5x the employee’s regular hourly rate

• Public Holiday Pay

• The compensation an employee is entitled to receive if they are eligible to take time off on a public holiday

• The formula to calculate public holiday pay in Ontario is: 

• Regular wages earned by the employee in the four weeks prior to the week with the public holiday + all vacation pay payable with respect to the four weeks before the work week with the public holiday ÷ 20

• Substitute holiday

• An alternate day off that an employee can take if they work on a public holiday

What are employees entitled to in Ontario?

Any time there is a provincially legislated public holiday in Ontario, eligible employees are entitled to one of following:

1. If the employee gets the day off work, the employee…

• Receives public holiday pay

2. If the employee works on the public holiday, the employee receives either…

• Premium pay for all hours worked on the public holiday and public holiday pay, or;

• Regular wages for all hours worked on the public holiday and a substitute holiday with public holiday pay

In other words…

This means that each time there is a public holiday, all eligible employees in Ontario are entitled to:

1. Public Holiday Pay and;

2. One of the following:

1. Pay at time and a half for all hours worked on the holiday**

2. The holiday as a day off work

3. A substitute holiday

While the timing of when the above entitlements are received is situation-dependant, the crucial point is that each time there is a stat holiday, your organization has these obligations to each eligible employee. 

**Note: The employee must agree to this option in writing as a record that they have waived their option to take a day off work for the public holiday. 

What holidays are considered public holidays in Ontario?

The Ontario ESA stipulates the following nine public holidays:

1. New Year's Day

2. Family Day

3. Good Friday

4. Victoria Day

5. Canada Day

6. Labour Day

7. Thanksgiving Day

8. Christmas Day

9. Boxing Day (December 26)

Additionally, many employers also treat the Civic Holiday (first Friday in August) and National Truth and Reconciliation Day (September 30) like public holidays, but this is not mandatory.

What are the eligibility requirements for public holidays in Ontario?

Most employees who are eligible under the ESA are entitled to statutory holiday pay in Ontario unless:

• They have failed without reasonable cause to work all of their last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday or all of their first regularly scheduled shift after the holiday (this is called the “last and first rule”)

• They were required to or agreed to work on the public holiday and have subsequently refused to work their entire shift on the holiday

•  In this case, they are still entitled to premium pay for hours worked on the public holiday, but not to an additional paid day off

Note: While most employees are covered by the ESA, there are specific employment categories which are either not covered or have special rules that apply to them. Some examples are health care, transportation, and hospitality services. If you are usure if your employees are covered by the ESA, you can find out more via the Government of Ontario’s website here.

What do public holidays look like for salaried employees?

• If a salaried employee gets the day off work for the public holiday, they receive public holiday pay

• If a salaried employee works on the holiday, they will receive either:

• Premium pay (i.e., pay at 1.5x their regular hourly rate) for all hours worked on the holiday + public holiday pay, but no days off**

• Regular wages for working on the public holiday + a substitute holiday where the employee receives public holiday pay 

**This must be agreed to in writing.

What do public holidays look like for hourly employees?

Technically speaking, the rules are exactly the same as for hourly employees as they are for salaried employees. 

• If an hourly employee gets the day off work for the public holiday, they receive public holiday pay 

• If an hourly employee works on the holiday, they will receive either:

• Premium pay (i.e., 1.5x their regular rate) for all hours worked on the public holiday + public holiday pay, but no days off**

• Regular wages for all hours worked on the holiday + a substitute holiday for which they receive public holiday pay

**This must be agreed to in writing. 

However, the rules can be a bit more confusing when applied to hourly employees with varying schedules due to both fluctuations in their hours and the possibility that the holiday will fall on a non-working day. 

Scenarios:

What if the public holiday falls on a day my hourly employee doesn’t normally work? For example, if the holiday falls on a Monday, but my employee works Tuesday-Friday.

In this case, you should give your employee a substitute holiday with public holiday pay. You also have the option to provide public holiday pay without providing a substitute day off, but the employee must agree to this in writing. 

If my hourly employee would normally be scheduled to work on a public holiday and are provided the day off work, may I give them give lieu time to use on a later date instead of paying public holiday pay?

Technically speaking, yes. However, this is not quite as straight forward as it seems because:

• You should be careful to ensure that amount of paid time off they receive is of equal or higher monetary value in comparison to what their public holiday pay would have been

• You must carefully track the employee’s entitlement and have record of providing them the paid lieu time off of work 

It is more administratively straightforward to pay the public holiday pay in the pay period that the public holiday falls in. 

Conclusion:

Public holiday pay doesn’t have to be complicated, as long as you know the requirements and how to apply them. By understanding time off and pay entitlements for public holidays, you can make sure that your team is paid fairly and that your organization stays compliant. Taking the time to get it right not only helps you avoid issues down the road, but also shows your employees that you value their time and contributions. Here’s to keeping your payroll compliant and your employees happy - one stat holiday at a time.

Additional Resources:

Your Guide to the Employment Standards Act – Public Holidays

Industries and jobs with exemptions or special rules

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This tip sheet was created by the Young Associates team based on the best information available to us as of the date of posting.

Although every effort has been made to provide complete and accurate information, Young Associates makes no warranties, express or implied, or representations as to the accuracy of content in this tip sheet. Young Associates assumes no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions in the information contained in the tip sheet. 

Founded in 1993, Young Associates provides bookkeeping and financial management services in the charitable sector, with a focus on arts and culture. Young Associates also provides consulting services in the areas of data management, business planning and strategic planning. Heather Young published Finance for the Arts in Canada, a textbook and self-study guide on accounting and financial management for not-for-profit arts organizations.

Interview: What Finance for the Arts in Canada can do for you!

This past summer, Heather Young attended the PACT conference in Nova Scotia, and ran into arts administrator Alan Wrenshall, who shared how much they enjoyed Heather's Finance for the Arts in Canada books! Alan was kind of enough to answer some questions we sent their way - enjoy!

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Tell us a bit about yourself, and your arts administration role!

Alan Wrenshaw (left) and Heather Young at the 2025 PACT conference

My name is Alan Wrenshall (they/them) and I am a Queer, neurodivergent arts administrator for theatre, currently working as the Managing Director of Playwrights' Workshop Montréal. Founded in 1963, PWM is a nationally-mandated play development centre devoted to exploring and advancing artistic practices that support the creation of new works. To give you a sense of scale, in an average year, PWM collaborates with 250 artists and supports the development of more than 70 new works or translations.

Like many arts admin before me, I began my career in theatre as a Stage Manager, working behind the scenes on productions across Ontario. I gained invaluable experience and skills as an SM and loved being part of the creation process, but when Covid hit I briefly left the arts. Theatre kept calling me back though, and I moved to Montéal to join PWM’s administration team as a Coordinator. The previous MD left shortly after I started, and with the support of the rest of the team, I was able to take on the role. I'm incredibly grateful for the whirlwind opportunity that brought me here and the projects and artists we've been able to collaborate with.

Why did you purchase "Finance for the Arts in Canada," and how has the book met that initial need? Do you think it might be of use to others?

As a Stage Manager turned arts admin, my experience with budgets and finances before getting into arts admin was limited to say the least. Despite taking (most of) an accounting course in University, I did not have training in business. I knew the basics, but, in reality, the biggest budget I'd had to manage up to that point was for one production at a time. If Stage Managing taught me anything, though, it was how to be resourceful in finding information. The toughest part for me was sorting through all of the information that doesn't quite apply to arts nonprofits in Canada. Heather Young's Finance for the Arts in Canada was recommended to me by someone who had worked in my role previously to help me round out my knowledge and skills. 

Which section or concept in the book did you find most valuable or impactful?

For me, the sections that Heather included on understanding more about Accounting principles and financial documents were the most helpful. Sections such as detailing what a trial balance is, or how the purpose of the balance sheet differs from that of the income statement, or what information you get from a statement of cash flow. Coming into the role I felt comfortable with budget tracking and planning, but having a resource that helped me understand the context for why the accounting processes are the way they are, and the different information they are collecting or intended to explain gave me a much more fulsome ability to engage with that part of my job. 

Who would you recommend read this book, and find it useful?

I recommend this book to anyone who has taken on an arts leadership role and is stepping out of their comfort-zone working with running a business, or finances and accounting. I know that there are other new arts leaders out there that come from an artistic background with minimal finance experience, but want to learn. Concepts are explained clearly and thoughtfully. Even for topics you feel comfortable with, it's a great resource to be able to refer back to. It felt like being able to ask my bookkeeper questions without flooding her inbox, and gave me a better vocabulary for speaking with the auditor and my Board. I think it's useful information for anyone!

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Many thanks to Alan for sharing their perspective with us!

You can learn more about Finance for the Arts in Canada here: youngassociates.ca/explore-book

Tis the season (for grant deadlines)!

With grant deadlines galore falling in the winter and early spring, many arts managers are poring over budgets and reports for funders – while at the same time juggling the demands of artistic programming in full swing.

These can feel like “weeks of reckoning” where you’re justifying your existence to grantors while working like crazy to maximize today’s successes.

If you’re run off your feet and wondering why you chose this crazy business, check out this short excerpt from Finance for the Arts in Canada, which may help provide some perspective on budgeting an the real world:

The ability to stick to a budget is held as an important benchmark: it’s senseless to invest a lot of time and energy into a plan that’s going to be discarded the moment things change. However, rigid management stifles creativity, and extreme meticulousness can produce needless bureaucracy. The degree of rigour beneficial to a given company depends on factors such as its size and complexity, the risk inherent in its programming (e.g., a choreographic workshop or artist-run centre may need more flexibility than a classical ballet company or major art museum), the skill level of decision-makers, and the attitudes and preferences of the leadership.

Managers are expected to know how to implement a budget (that is, to follow the script, as it were, by setting activities in motion, making the planned purchases and generating the targeted revenues). A complementary expectation is that managers will have the “chops” to manage change while maintaining stability. No year goes fully according to plan — not ever! When confronted by the unexpected, leaders are expected to step up and decide what to do next. These expectations, by the way, come from all directions. Volunteer board members look to paid managers for expertise. Senior staff look to the director for coordination, and more junior staff to managers for specific instruction on what to do.

When you take on a financial management role, you agree not only to balance the demands of a script (your budget) against the exigencies of daily life (the improv element), but also to do so while responding to the expectations of colleagues, your employer (the board) and perhaps other stakeholders. With so many factors at play, it is clear that to thrive, an organization needs more than a skilled manager, it needs recognized and shared processes that provide a framework for adapting to circumstances. In the absence of functional collaboration amongst staff members and between the board and staff, the best financial manager can be thwarted. A productive combination of smarts and structure equips the organization to move forward. An outcome may differ from expectations, but if there’s general agreement that contingencies were handled as well as possible, then the result may be considered a success.

From Finance for the Arts in Canada, Volume 2: Financial Management; Chapter 4: Managing Successfully Throughout the Year

New Seminars! Take the Lead: Principles for Administrative Leadership in the Arts

Young Associates is thrilled to be partnering with WorkInCulture to launch Take the Lead: Principles for Administrative Leadership for the Arts, a new two day seminar series for increasing managerial and governance skills in arts administration. Running October 12 & 13, 2017, instructors from Young Associates and WorkInCulture will deliver sessions on understanding financial statements, payroll, WSIB, and HR. Get more details here. 

Young Associates is hiring!

Young Associates is looking for a new administrator, associate, and senior associate. Please visit our Careers page to view the current job posting. 

Mission, Vision, Values, Mandate: an “Aha!” Moment

Staff Post
By Heather Young

In addition to being Principal at Young Associates, I am also a proud member of Arts Consultants Canada / Consultants Canadiens en arts, as are my colleagues Samantha Zimmerman, Anna Mathew, and Jerry Smith. I was privileged to be part of ACCA’s most recent strategic planning retreat, in my capacity as outgoing treasurer. Twelve of us, the current board plus “graduating” directors, shared a day of focused discussion and more than a few bursts of laughter, engaging in a three-year planning process.

As I expect many of us have done with strat planning clients, we began with a review of ACCA’s mission, vision and values. I confess that I’ve always been a little hazy on how to delineate those terms, especially when mandate is added to the mix – so I was relieved that we spent a few minutes confirming a common set of definitions.

At last, it all makes sense!

Mission captures the practical, desired outcome: what should happen because of what we do? Who are we serving, and who benefits from our work? It is an expression of structure, and appeals to the head – our rational side.

The vision is aspirational. It’s a dream that may or may not come true. Captured in a brief, inspiring sentence – think postcard, not novel – it appeals to the heart. 

Values are the principles that guide our actions: the compass that helps ensure we stay on the right track.

As for mandate, there was a small difference of views. Some would see it as synonymous with mission. Another view positions it as a legal term that captures our relationship with the government. This makes complete sense to me: for most organizations, the mandate statement in their articles of incorporation or letters patent is drier and more general than the directive they articulate for their strategic plan.

Remember Star Trek?

Well, the vision of the Federation might run something like, “that humanity achieve a more complete understanding of itself through exploring the universe.”

The five-year mission is articulated in Captain Kirk’s iconic opening narration: “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

The values, embodied in the Prime Directive, have inspired endless discussion in fan literature to this day, as a quick Google search will confirm!

And, I expect that somewhere within the files of the Federation’s legal department we could find a mandate statement, couched in formal terms, capturing all of the above from a governance standpoint.

As for ACCA, we had a productive and exciting day that yielded renewed mission and vision statements for the association. ACCA has now released the final version:

VISION:

Arts Consultants Canada / Consultants canadiens en arts (ACCA) members are valued contributors in a thriving, creative Canada.
 
Les membres de Arts Consultants Canada / Consultants canadiens en arts  (ACCA) contribuent au rayonnement d'un Canada créatif et florissant.
 

MISSION:

ACCA strengthens the arts in Canada by connecting a network of experts with Canada’s arts community and by encouraging the active exchange of its members’ expertise to advance and promote the development of the sector.
 
L’ACCA renforce les arts au Canada en raccordant un réseau d’expert(e)s au  secteur artistique canadien ainsi qu’en encourageant un échange actif d’expertise parmi ses membres pour favoriser le secteur.

Read more about the ACCA Strategic Plan here.