Ontario Stat Holiday Pay Calculator 2026: Public Holiday Pay

Calculate what you are owed for an Ontario public holiday (stat holiday) under the Employment Standards Act. Public holiday pay is all the regular wages you earned in the four work weeks before the week of the holiday, plus the vacation pay payable for those weeks, divided by 20. If you earned $3,200 in those four weeks, your holiday pay is $160. If you agree to work the holiday at $20 an hour for 8 hours and take premium pay, you get $160 plus $240 of premium pay, or $400.

The formula

Public holiday pay = (regular wages earned in the 4 work weeks before the work week with the holiday + vacation pay payable for those 4 weeks) ÷ 20.

• Regular wages do not include overtime pay, vacation pay, public holiday pay, premium pay, termination or severance pay, or domestic or sexual violence leave pay.
• The four work weeks follow your employer’s work week, which is not always Sunday to Saturday. They end with the last full work week before the week of the holiday.
• Vacation pay is added only if it is payable for those weeks: if you get 4% or 6% on every cheque, include it; if vacation pay is paid when you take vacation, include it only if you were on vacation during those four weeks.

Dividing by 20 gives the average pay for one day for someone who works five days a week. Part-time and irregular workers use the same formula, so the result reflects what they actually earned.

If you work on the holiday

Most employees can refuse to work on a public holiday. If you agree in writing (an email counts) to work, you choose between:

• Holiday pay plus premium pay: public holiday pay for the day, plus 1.5 times your regular rate for every hour you work, with no substitute day; or
• Regular pay plus a substitute day: your regular rate for the hours worked, plus another day off paid at public holiday pay. The substitute day must be scheduled within 3 months, or within 12 months if you agree in writing.

Hotels, motels and tourist resorts, restaurants and taverns, hospitals and nursing homes, and continuous operations (businesses that do not close more than once a week) can require employees to work on a holiday that falls on a normal working day, unless the employee is on vacation. In that case the employer picks which of the two options above applies. Some retail workers in continuous operations, such as a 24-hour convenience store, can still refuse.

Examples

Ontario’s nine public holidays

Easter Monday, the August Civic Holiday and Remembrance Day are not public holidays under the Employment Standards Act, although some employers give them. When a holiday falls on a day you would not normally work, such as Boxing Day 2026 on a Saturday for a Monday-to-Friday worker, you get a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or holiday pay for the day if you agree in writing.

Who qualifies

Full-time, part-time, permanent and contract employees all qualify, no matter how recently they were hired. You lose the holiday pay only if, without reasonable cause, you miss all or part of your last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday or your first one after it, or you agreed to work the holiday and did not work the whole shift. Even then, most employees must still get premium pay for any hours worked on the holiday.

FAQ

Do part-time workers get stat holiday pay in Ontario?

Yes. They use the same formula. Someone who earned $1,440 in the four weeks and gets 4% vacation pay on each cheque is owed ($1,440 + $57.60) ÷ 20 = $74.88.

Is it time and a half on a stat holiday in Ontario?

Premium pay is 1.5 times your regular rate for each hour worked, but it is paid on top of public holiday pay only if you chose that option. With the substitute day option, you earn your regular rate on the holiday and get a paid day off later.

What if I was on leave or laid off before the holiday?

You still qualify if you worked your last scheduled day before the leave and your first one after it, but if you earned no wages in the four work weeks, the holiday pay is $0.

Does this apply to federally regulated jobs in Ontario?

No. Employees of banks, airlines and other federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code. It also pays one-twentieth of the wages (excluding overtime) earned in the four weeks before the week of the holiday, but it has its own list of general holidays, which includes Remembrance Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Related calculators

• Vacation Pay Calculator Canada4% or 6% vacation pay in Ontario
• Salary to Hourly Calculator CanadaFind your regular hourly rate
• Canada Income Tax Calculator 2026Tax on your pay in Ontario

Sources

• Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, Public holidays · formula, premium pay and examples
• Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, Vacation
• Government of Canada: Annual vacations and general holidays (federal)