Ontario Public Holiday Pay: The Formula, Worked on Real Schedules
Ontario public holiday pay is all the regular wages you earned in the four work weeks before the work week that contains the holiday, plus any vacation pay payable on those wages, divided by 20. A full-time employee earning $22 an hour for 40 hours a week has $3,520 in that window, so the holiday pay is $3,520 ÷ 20 = $176. A part-timer whose hours change from week to week gets a different number every holiday, and that is where most pay-stub disputes start.
Finance Editorial Desk. Source: the Ontario government's guide to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), read October 23, 2026. The employees below are invented to show the arithmetic; the rules and the ministry examples are the ministry's. This is information, not legal advice, and a contract or collective agreement can add to the ESA minimum but never reduce it.
What the formula counts, piece by piece
The ministry's guide states the calculation in one sentence: public holiday pay is the regular wages earned in the four work weeks before the work week with the holiday, plus the vacation pay payable on those wages, divided by 20. Each piece has a catch.
"The four work weeks before the work week with the holiday." The week that contains the holiday is not in the window. If Canada Day falls on a Wednesday, the window is the four work weeks that ended before that Wednesday's week began. Wages earned in the holiday week itself do not count toward that holiday's pay.
"Regular wages." The guide says regular wages do not include overtime pay, vacation pay, public holiday pay or premium pay, and the list continues with leave pay for domestic or sexual violence and the payments tied to ending employment (termination, severance and assignment termination pay). The number that goes into the formula is therefore ordinary pay for ordinary hours. Hours paid at the overtime premium are out. An earlier holiday's pay that landed inside the window is out too, which stops one holiday from feeding the next.
"Vacation pay payable." This is added on top of the regular wages. If your employer pays vacation pay with every cheque, the vacation pay on the wages in the window is at least 4% of those wages and it goes into the total. If you took a vacation in the window and were paid for it, that pay goes in as well. (When a job ends, unpaid vacation pay is due within seven days of the end of employment or the next regular pay day, whichever is later; the severance pay guide shows how that sits beside notice and severance.) Either way, the vacation pay attached to the weeks in the window sits in the numerator.
"Divided by 20." Four work weeks of five working days is 20 days, so the result behaves like an average day's pay across the window. For a full-time worker that is a normal day. For someone working 24 hours a week it is a smaller number than eight hours at their rate, because the average day in their window is shorter.
| Wage line in the four-week window | In the numerator? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours at your regular rate | Yes | These are regular wages |
| Hours paid at 1.5 times the rate for overtime | No | The guide excludes overtime pay |
| Premium pay for working an earlier holiday | No | The guide excludes premium pay |
| Public holiday pay for an earlier holiday | No | The guide excludes public holiday pay |
| Vacation pay paid with each cheque (at least 4%) | Yes, as vacation pay payable | Added to the regular wages |
| Vacation pay paid when you took time off in the window | Yes | Same reason |
| Termination, severance or assignment termination pay | No | Excluded from regular wages |
Which days count, and who qualifies
Ontario has nine public holidays (this guide belongs to the Canadian paycheque and employment standards hub, which collects the other payroll guides): New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (December 26). A day that is not on that list, such as the Civic Holiday, is not an ESA public holiday. An employer may still give it as a perk.
The eligibility rule is short. You lose public holiday pay if, without reasonable cause, you fail to work all of your last regularly scheduled day of work before the public holiday, or all of your first regularly scheduled day of work after it. The ministry defines reasonable cause as something beyond the employee's control that prevents the employee from working, and puts the burden on the employee to show it. If you agreed to work the holiday and then do not, without reasonable cause, you get no holiday pay. If you agreed to work eight hours and worked only four without reasonable cause, you get premium pay for the four hours you did work.
If the business is closed on the holiday, most employees still have the right to the day off with pay. The last-and-first shift rule still applies, though. A closed shop does not cancel it.
Some jobs are not covered by the public holiday provisions, and some have special rules. The ministry's example of a worker who is both a taxi driver (exempt work) and a dispatcher (covered work) turns on proportion: at least half of his work in the holiday week was dispatching, so he qualified.
What "last" and "first" scheduled day mean, case by case
The scheduled days do not have to sit right next to the holiday. The ministry's examples show how the rule bends around real schedules.
| Situation | Which shifts must be worked | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Works Monday to Thursday; the holiday is a Monday | The entire Thursday shift before and the Tuesday shift after | Qualifies if both are worked, or reasonable cause |
| Same schedule, but the Thursday before was taken off with the employer's approval | Wednesday (the new last scheduled day) and the Tuesday after | Qualifies if both are worked |
| Works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; a Friday holiday; left at 3 p.m. on Thursday with approval | Thursday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the following Monday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Qualifies if both are worked |
| On vacation June 25 to July 9 across a July 1 holiday | The last shift before the vacation (June 24) and the first after it (July 10) | Qualifies if both are worked |
| On pregnancy leave across the holiday | The last scheduled day before the leave and the first after it | Qualifies if both are worked |
| Missed the last scheduled day before a Monday holiday without reasonable cause | Not worked | No holiday pay |
The pattern in every row is that an approved change to a schedule moves the "last" or "first" day with it, and an unapproved absence does not.
Four schedules, calculated
The four cases below use the same method each time: add up the regular wages for the four work weeks before the holiday week, add vacation pay payable on them, divide by 20. Every dollar figure was recomputed for this article.
Case 1: full-time, steady hours
A full-time employee earns $22 an hour and works 40 hours a week at the regular rate, with no overtime and no vacation in the window.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Regular wages, 4 weeks | 4 × (40 × $22) = $3,520 |
| Vacation pay payable (paid out at vacation time, none in window) | $0 |
| Total ÷ 20 | $176.00 |
The holiday pay is $176, exactly eight hours at the rate. Steady full-time hourly pay gives the "one normal day" answer. A salaried employee paid $1,100 a week gets the same result: $4,400 ÷ 20 = $220, which is one-fifth of a week. (To see what a salary is worth per hour in the first place, the Canadian salary-to-hourly guide and the Ontario salary-to-hourly calculator do the conversion. CalculatorVillage does not yet have a calculator for the four-week formula itself; the formula in a spreadsheet, with four weekly wage totals in B2 to B5 and the vacation percentage in B7, is =(SUM(B2:B5)*(1+B7))/20.) The ministry's first example has the same shape: $120 a day for five days a week gives $2,400 over four weeks and $120 of holiday pay.
Case 2: part-time, hours that move
A part-time employee earns $20 an hour. In the four weeks before the holiday week the hours were 18, 24, 12 and 30, and the employer pays 4% vacation pay on every cheque.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hours | 18 + 24 + 12 + 30 = 84 |
| Regular wages | 84 × $20 = $1,680.00 |
| Vacation pay (4% of $1,680) | $67.20 |
| Total ÷ 20 | $87.36 |
Holiday pay: $87.36. If the employer paid a flat eight hours at $20 ($160), the employee would receive more than the formula, which is allowed, since the formula is a minimum. The usual complaint runs the other way. A part-timer whose shifts were cut in the window sees the number fall, and the employer owes exactly what the formula gives. The ministry's own part-time example, three days a week at $120 with 4% vacation pay, comes to $74.88.
Case 3: variable weekly wages
An hourly employee with uneven weeks had regular wages of $1,380, $520, $1,210 and $960 in the four weeks, and is paid 4% vacation pay on each cheque.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Regular wages | $1,380 + $520 + $1,210 + $960 = $4,070.00 |
| Vacation pay at 4% | $162.80 |
| Total ÷ 20 | $211.64 |
The $520 week drags the average, and the big weeks pull it up. Holiday pay: $211.64. The ministry's example of a worker with no set hours who earned $1,500 over the window, plus $60 of vacation pay, gets $78.
Case 4: a vacation week inside the window
An employee earns $22 an hour at 40 hours a week. In the four-week window the employee worked three weeks and took one week of vacation, paid at the regular $880.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Regular wages, 3 working weeks | 3 × $880 = $2,640 |
| Vacation pay payable for the vacation week | $880 |
| Total ÷ 20 | $176.00 |
Without the vacation-pay rule the result would be $2,640 ÷ 20 = $132, which would punish the employee for taking leave. The ministry's own example of a worker on vacation for two weeks who was paid $1,600 in advance shows the same effect: ($1,600 + $1,600) ÷ 20 = $160, one regular day.
Vacation pay sits inside the formula, and holiday pay sits inside vacation pay
The two entitlements feed each other, and the vacation-pay rules explain why the "plus vacation pay payable" term exists.
The ministry's vacation guide (updated February 5, 2026) sets vacation pay at no less than 4% of gross wages, excluding vacation pay, for employees with less than five years of employment, and 6% from five years. Reaching five years part-way through a year makes the 6% rate apply to all wages in that year. The wages that count for vacation pay include regular earnings, commissions, non-discretionary bonuses, overtime pay and public holiday pay. Tips, discretionary bonuses, expense allowances, severance pay and vacation pay already paid out do not count.
Two things follow for the holiday formula.
First, the vacation pay percentage changes the numerator. For the part-time employee in Case 2, whose regular wages were $1,680, a 6% rate in place of 4% gives vacation pay of $100.80 and holiday pay of ($1,680 + $100.80) ÷ 20 = $89.04, which is $1.68 more than at 4%. A long-service employee on the 6% rate gets a slightly larger holiday payment from the same hours.
Second, holiday pay is itself wages for vacation pay purposes. The holiday payment of $176 in Case 1 attracts vacation pay of at least $7.04 at 4%, which belongs in the next vacation-pay calculation. The reverse does not hold: because the formula's wages exclude public holiday pay, a holiday does not compound into the next holiday's pay.
How vacation pay is paid also matters. The vacation guide says vacation pay is normally a lump sum before the vacation is taken, unless the employee agrees in writing or electronically to receive it with each cheque, in which case it is shown separately on each pay statement. In the ministry's holiday examples, the employees paid 4% on each cheque get that percentage added to the window's wages, and the employee paid in advance gets the advance counted when the vacation falls in the window.
What overtime does to the window
The formula excludes overtime pay, so a heavy overtime month does not inflate holiday pay. Suppose an employee earns $22 an hour and works 48 hours every week for the four weeks. Ontario's standard overtime threshold is 44 hours a week, with overtime pay at 1.5 times the regular rate, which is $33 here. Regular wages are 44 × $22 = $968 a week. The remaining 4 hours a week are paid at $33 and count as overtime pay.
| Method | Calculation | Holiday pay |
|---|---|---|
| Regular wages only (the rule) | 4 × $968 = $3,872, ÷ 20 | $193.60 |
| Wrongly including overtime pay | 4 × ($968 + $132) = $4,400, ÷ 20 | $220.00 |
Including overtime would overstate holiday pay by $26.40. Hours between the schedule and the overtime threshold, such as hours 41 to 44 in a 40-hour schedule paid at the regular rate, are not overtime pay under the guide's wording and stay in the total. For what hours past 44 should pay a salaried employee, the overtime calculator for salaried staff applies the same 1.5 times rule.
Overtime in the holiday week itself
The holiday week has its own overtime arithmetic, and the ministry's overtime guide works three cases.
| Case | What the employee did | Overtime hours | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday not worked | 45 hours worked in the week | 1 hour at $30.00 | $880.00 regular pay + $160.00 holiday pay + overtime, total $1,070.00 |
| Holiday worked, paid premium pay | 54 hours including 9 holiday hours | The 9 premium-paid holiday hours are excluded, so 54 − 9 = 45, giving 1 hour at $37.50 | $1,700.00 including premium and holiday pay |
| Holiday worked, regular wages plus a substitute day | 50 hours, no premium pay agreed | All 50 hours count, so 6 hours at $33.00 = $198.00 | $1,166.00, plus a paid substitute day within three months (twelve if agreed in writing) |
How the holiday is paid changes how overtime is counted. Hours paid at premium pay are set aside when counting overtime; hours worked for regular wages with a substitute day are counted in full. For a worker near 44 hours, that can be the difference between one overtime hour and six.
Working on the holiday: two options, with dollars
An employee can agree, electronically or in writing, to work on the holiday. The employer then chooses between two ways to pay:
- Option A: premium pay. The employee gets public holiday pay (the formula amount) plus premium pay, 1.5 times the regular rate, for every hour worked. They do not get another day off.
- Option B: regular wages plus a substitute day. The employee is paid regular wages for the hours worked, and gets a substitute day off, for which public holiday pay is owed.
Using the Case 1 employee ($22 an hour, holiday pay $176):
| Shift length | Option A (holiday pay + premium pay) | Option B (regular wages + paid substitute day) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 hours | $176 + 8 × $33 = $440 | 8 × $22 = $176, plus $176 on the substitute day = $352, plus a day off |
| 10 hours | $176 + 10 × $33 = $506 | 10 × $22 = $220, plus $176 = $396, plus a day off |
Option A pays $88 more on an 8-hour shift and $110 more on a 10-hour shift, but gives no extra day. Option B costs less in cash and returns a day to the employee, which the guide says must fall no later than three months after the holiday, or up to 12 months after with a written or electronic agreement. The ministry's own example matches the structure of option A: public holiday pay of $160 plus premium pay of $30 an hour for 8 hours ($240) is $400. The premium rate is the regular rate times 1.5, so a worker on $20 an hour earns $30 an hour of premium.
When an employer can require you to work
Most employees cannot be forced to work a public holiday. The exception in the guide covers hotels, motels, tourist resorts, restaurants, taverns, hospitals, nursing homes and continuous operations that do not close more than once a week. It applies only if the holiday falls on a day the employee would normally work and they are not on vacation. In those workplaces the employer picks option A or option B.
A holiday on a day you would not normally work
If a holiday lands on a day that is not ordinarily a working day for you, or during your vacation, you get one of two things: a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or public holiday pay alone if you agree to that electronically or in writing. A part-timer who works Monday to Wednesday and sees a Friday holiday gets the formula amount, either as a paid day off on another date or as straight pay. The dollar amount is the same either way. The only question is whether you would rather have the day or the cash.
When the window is empty or short
The ministry's leave and layoff examples show the formula going to zero or to a small number.
- Parental and pregnancy leave. An employee who works five days a week at $120, then goes on a 17-week pregnancy leave from June 10 followed by a 35-week parental leave, worked only 7 days in the four weeks before Canada Day. Holiday pay is ($840 + $0) ÷ 20 = $42. For the later holidays during the leave, the window holds no wages or vacation pay, so the pay is $0. Employment insurance benefits are not wages. The ministry states that she is entitled to public holiday pay for holidays that fall during the leave; the entitlement exists, and the formula sets the amount.
- Layoff. An employee at $100 a day laid off on November 15 and recalled on December 27 earned no wages or vacation pay in the four weeks before Christmas Day or Boxing Day, so each is $0. The ministry again notes that EI benefits received during the layoff are not wages.
A new hire is the common real-world version. Someone who started two weeks ago and worked 35 hours a week at $18, with 4% vacation pay, has $1,260 + $50.40 = $1,310.40 in the window, so holiday pay is $65.52. It is small because the window is mostly empty, not because the employer shaved it. Two holidays that fall in the same work week share the same four-week window, so they pay the same amount.
A single short week is expensive too. If a full-time worker earning $22 an hour had three weeks at 40 hours and one at 10, regular wages are 130 hours × $22 = $2,860, which gives $143.00 instead of $176.00. One short week costs $33.
Sources
- Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Public holidays (formula, regular wages definition, eligibility and reasonable cause, work on a public holiday, substitute days, leave and layoff examples; the page shows "Updated: July 08, 2024"): https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/public-holidays (checked October 23, 2026)
- Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Overtime pay (44-hour threshold, 1.5 times the regular rate, public holiday worked examples; updated February 5, 2026): https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/overtime-pay (checked October 23, 2026)
- Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Vacation (4% and 6% vacation pay, what counts as wages, timing, termination; updated February 5, 2026): https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/vacation (checked October 23, 2026)