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Statutory holiday pay

Statutory holiday pay: who qualifies, how it is calculated, and where payroll goes wrong

By EverStone CPA · Reviewed July 2026 · 8 min read

Statutory holiday pay is deceptively fiddly. There is a qualifying test that many employers apply incorrectly, a calculation that is not simply “a day's wages”, and a premium for working the day that stacks on top rather than replacing it. None of it is difficult, but it is easy to be quietly wrong about for years.

Quick answer: In British Columbia an employee qualifies for statutory holiday pay after 30 calendar days of employment and having worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday. The amount is an average day's pay: total wages divided by days worked, with overtime excluded.

BC: the day-before/day-after rule is not the test here.

Employment standards are provincial. Vacation entitlement, statutory holidays and termination notice are set by each province or territory (or by the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated employers such as banks, airlines, telecoms and interprovincial trucking). This guide is written for British Columbia. If you employ people in Alberta, Ontario or anywhere else, the minimums are different — check your own province's employment standards branch before you run the numbers. The payroll and tax treatment described further down is federal and applies across Canada.

The 2026 statutory holidays in B.C.

British Columbia recognises eleven statutory holidays. For 2026 they fall on New Year's Day (Thursday, January 1), Family Day (Monday, February 16), Good Friday (Friday, April 3), Victoria Day (Monday, May 18), Canada Day (Wednesday, July 1), B.C. Day (Monday, August 3), Labour Day (Monday, September 7), National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Wednesday, September 30), Thanksgiving Day (Monday, October 12), Remembrance Day (Wednesday, November 11) and Christmas Day (Friday, December 25).

Note what is not on that list: Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in B.C. Employers who close anyway are free to do so, but that is a contractual benefit, not a statutory one. Employers and employees can also agree in writing to substitute a different day for a statutory holiday; the substitute day is then treated exactly like the original.

The qualifying test

This is the single most commonly misapplied rule in B.C. payroll. An employee qualifies for statutory holiday pay if they have:

been employed for 30 calendar days, and
worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days immediately before the statutory holiday.

Days on which wages were earned count even if no work was done — paid vacation days, other paid statutory holidays and employment-standards paid sick days all count toward the 15. What does not apply in B.C. is the “work the day before and the day after” rule people import from other jurisdictions. It is not the test here. An employee who does not qualify is simply paid regular pay for working on the holiday.

Some employees are excluded entirely by regulation, including managers, farm workers, fishers, and certain commissioned and high-technology roles. Car and truck salespeople and silviculture workers can be excluded where they receive 4.4% on each cheque in lieu. If your workforce includes any of these, confirm the specific regulation before assuming the general rule applies.

Calculating an average day's pay

Statutory holiday pay is not “eight hours at the usual rate.” The formula is:

Total wages ÷ number of days worked = statutory holiday pay — measured over the 30 calendar days before the statutory holiday. Include all wages: regular wages, salary, commission, statutory holiday pay, paid vacation and employment-standards paid sick days. Exclude overtime. Days worked means any day on which wages were earned, including paid vacation days, other paid statutory holidays and paid sick days.

The effect is that part-time and irregular-hours employees receive a genuine average rather than a notional full day, and that a busy month lifts the average while overtime does not. For salaried staff on fixed hours the answer usually lands close to a normal day's pay, which is why the formula is often ignored — right up until you have a part-timer, and then it matters.

Working on the holiday

The premium stacks. A qualifying employee who works on a statutory holiday is paid time-and-a-half for hours worked, and double time for hours worked beyond 12 in the day, plus an average day's pay. B.C.'s published example: if an employee's average day's pay is $150, then working seven hours on the holiday earns time-and-a-half for those seven hours plus the $150, and working 14 hours earns time-and-a-half for 12 hours, double time for 2 hours, plus the $150.

If the statutory holiday falls on an employee's regular or scheduled day off, they should still be paid an average day's pay. And if a statutory holiday lands during an employee's annual vacation, they may qualify for statutory holiday pay for it — they do not get an extra day off instead. That interaction with vacation pay is a frequent source of quiet underpayment.

Four errors that recur

Using the wrong qualifying test. The day-before/day-after rule is not B.C. law. Use 30 days employed and 15 of the last 30 days with wages earned.
Including overtime in the average. It inflates the average day's pay and, over a year, meaningfully overstates the cost.
Treating the premium as a replacement. Time-and-a-half is in addition to the average day's pay for a qualifying employee, not instead of it.
Forgetting accrued statutory holiday pay on termination. It is one of the wage categories that must be settled in the final pay.

The payroll side

Federally, statutory holiday pay is straightforward: where part of the pay period includes a public holiday, income tax, CPP contributions and EI premiums are calculated the same way as for regular salary, and the amount is reported as employment income on the T4. The complexity is entirely in the entitlement, not the withholding. Keep the 30-day calculation with your payroll records — it is the working paper that answers a complaint quickly, and it belongs alongside everything else in your year-end payroll file. If your workforce is largely part-time or shift-based, having a CPA set the calculation up once through payroll services is usually cheaper than reconstructing three years of averages later.

Sources

This article is general information for Canadian business owners and is current as of July 2026. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and your situation is unique — please speak with a CPA before acting on anything here.

About this article

EverStone CPA

Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, an Abbotsford CPA firm working with small businesses and incorporated contractors across the Fraser Valley and Canada. About the firm → · Book a free consult →

Working through this locally? We advise owners on it as an accountant in Abbotsford.

Keep reading

Vacation pay rules for employers → Hiring your first employee → Payroll services →

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Who qualifies for statutory holiday pay in B.C.?+

An employee qualifies if they have been employed for 30 calendar days and have worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days immediately before the statutory holiday. Days with paid vacation, another paid statutory holiday or employment-standards paid sick leave count toward the 15. The "work the day before and the day after" rule used in some jurisdictions is not the test in British Columbia.

How is statutory holiday pay calculated?+

Divide total wages by the number of days worked, measured over the 30 calendar days before the holiday. That gives an average day's pay. Include regular wages, salary, commission, statutory holiday pay, paid vacation and employment-standards paid sick days, and count any day on which wages were earned as a day worked. Overtime is excluded from the calculation.

What do I pay an employee who works on a statutory holiday?+

A qualifying employee is paid time-and-a-half for hours worked, double time for hours worked beyond 12 in the day, plus an average day's pay. The premium is in addition to the holiday pay, not a replacement for it. An employee who does not qualify simply receives their regular pay for the hours worked.

Is Boxing Day a statutory holiday in British Columbia?+

No. Boxing Day, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are not statutory holidays in B.C. The eleven statutory holidays are New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, B.C. Day, Labour Day, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. Employers who close on other days are giving a contractual benefit, not a statutory one.

What if a statutory holiday falls on a day off or during vacation?+

An employee should be paid an average day's pay for a regular or scheduled day off that falls on a statutory holiday. If the holiday falls during annual vacation, the employee may qualify for statutory holiday pay for that day but does not receive an additional day off. Employers and employees can also agree in writing to substitute a different day.

How is statutory holiday pay taxed?+

The same way as regular salary. Where part of the pay period includes a public holiday, income tax withholdings, CPP contributions and EI premiums are calculated in the same manner as for ordinary earnings, and the amount is reported as employment income on the T4. The complexity in statutory holiday pay sits in the entitlement calculation, not in the payroll deductions.

Is your statutory holiday pay right?

We'll check the qualifying test, the average-day calculation and the premium so your payroll stands up. Book a free, no-obligation consult with a CPA.

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