Calculating Statutory Holiday Pay
Province Payroll can automatically calculate statutory holiday pay for your hourly employees when a statutory holiday falls within a pay period.
How It Works
When you click Calculate Stat Holiday Pay on an open pay run, Province Payroll:
Identifies any statutory holidays that fall within the pay period
Determines each employee's eligibility based on their province's employment standards rules
Calculates the statutory holiday pay amount using the province-specific formula
Creates a "Statutory Holiday Pay" earning for each eligible employee
The calculation uses the employee's Labour Province (set in their employee settings) to apply the correct eligibility rules and calculation method.
Province Payroll uses the actual holiday date (not the observed date) because this calculation is for hourly employees who may have worked on the holiday itself. For example, if Canada Day falls on Sunday July 1st, the calculation uses July 1st—not the observed Monday.
Who Gets Calculated
Hourly employees — Stat holiday pay is calculated automatically based on their earnings history.
Salaried employees — These employees are listed separately in the results. Salaried employees receive their regular pay on statutory holidays without needing a separate stat pay earning.
Understanding the Results
After calculation, you'll see a summary showing:
Eligible employees with the stat pay amount added
Salaried employees who receive full pay on statutory holidays
Ineligible employees with the reason they didn't qualify (click to expand)
Common reasons for ineligibility include not having worked enough days in the lookback period, or not meeting the province's minimum employment duration. See our Statutory Holiday Pay Eligibility Rules at the bottom of this page for detailed province-by-province requirements.
When Employees Work on a Holiday
If an employee has Regular or Overtime hours recorded on a statutory holiday, you'll see an alert recommending you consider Holiday Premium Pay instead.
If they worked: Change the earning type to Holiday Premium Pay (1.5x their regular rate)
If they didn't work: If these hours were auto-generated from scheduled hours and the employee didn't actually work, you can delete them
Employment standards legislation generally requires that employees who work on a statutory holiday receive either holiday premium pay or a paid substitute day off.
Important Limitations
Province Payroll determines eligibility based on available data only. Some provinces require employees to work the day before and after a holiday (no unexcused absences). Province Payroll does not track unexcused absences—if an employee had an unexcused absence, manually remove their stat pay earning.
Calculations follow provincial legislation. Where legislation is ambiguous, Province Payroll applies a reasonable interpretation. Employers should review results for their specific circumstances.
Audit Trail
For detailed calculation records, click Download Audit Trail at the bottom of the results modal. This JSON file includes the inputs, lookback periods, and eligibility checks for each employee—useful for record-keeping or troubleshooting.
Statutory Holiday Pay Eligibility Rules
Statutory Holiday Pay Eligibility Rules
When calculating statutory holiday pay, Province Payroll checks province-specific eligibility rules. If an employee fails one or more rules, they will not receive stat pay for that holiday.
Minimum Days Worked (AB, NS, NT, NU)
What it checks: Did the employee work at least X days (with hours) in the lookback period?
Eligibility requirements by province:
Alberta (AB): Worked at least 30 days in the past 365 days
Nova Scotia (NS): Worked at least 15 days in the past 30 days
Northwest Territories (NT): Worked at least 30 days in the past 365 days
Nunavut (NU): Worked at least 30 days in the past 365 days
Why it fails: The employee is too new or hasn't worked frequently enough.
Minimum Employment Duration (BC, NL, PE, YT)
What it checks: Has the employee been employed for at least 30 calendar days before the holiday? (based on tenure start date).
Why it fails: The employee started less than 30 days before the holiday.
Recent Days Worked (BC, PE)
What it checks: Did the employee work at least 15 of the 30 days before the holiday?
Why it fails: The employee didn't work frequently enough in the month before the holiday.
Schedule Includes Holiday Weekday (AB only)
What it checks: Does the employee's wage schedule include hours on the holiday's weekday (e.g., Monday for Labour Day)?
Passes if:
Employee has scheduled hours on that weekday, OR
Employee has an "irregular schedule" (all schedule fields are blank)
Why it fails: Employee has a defined schedule that doesn't include the holiday's weekday (e.g., Tue-Fri schedule, but holiday is Monday).
Weekday Work Pattern (AB only)
What it checks: Did the employee work on the holiday's weekday (e.g., Monday) in at least 5 of the last 9 weeks?
Why it fails: The employee doesn't have a consistent pattern of working on that weekday. For example, if Labour Day is Monday but the employee only worked 4 Mondays in the past 9 weeks.
Minimum Days Employed (NB only)
What it checks: Was the employee on payroll for at least 90 calendar days in the past 12 months?
Why it fails: The employee hasn't accumulated enough tenure days.
Provinces With No Eligibility Requirements
The following provinces have no eligibility requirements—all hourly employees are eligible to receive statutory holiday pay:
Saskatchewan (SK)
Manitoba (MB)
Ontario (ON)
Quebec (QC)
Federal / Canada Labour Code (CLC)
Stat pay is calculated using a province-specific formula (typically a percentage of recent earnings or an average of daily hours). An employee with no earnings in the lookback period will be eligible but receive $0.
Note: Some provinces (MB, ON, QC) have eligibility rules in legislation that depend on information Province Payroll cannot track (e.g., unexcused absences on the day before/after the holiday). For these provinces, all employees are marked eligible, and employers should manually verify eligibility.