British Columbia stat holiday pay.

How BC stat holiday pay works, step by step

British Columbia does not pay a stat holiday as a fixed number of hours. It pays an average day’s pay, worked out from what you actually earned in the 30 calendar days before the holiday. The formula the province publishes is total wages ÷ number of days worked. Three details decide whether your number comes out right.

1. Which wages go in the top line. Regular wages, salary, commission, statutory holiday pay from an earlier holiday, paid vacation and the paid sick days that employment standards require. Overtime is left out.
2. Which days go in the bottom line. Any day on which you earned wages, which includes paid vacation days, other paid statutory holidays and paid sick days — not just days you physically showed up.
3. Which 30 days. The 30 calendar days immediately before the holiday, counting weekends and days off, not 30 working days.

Worked example: a steady schedule

You worked 17 days in the 30 calendar days before Labour Day and earned $2,380 in regular wages, with no overtime. $2,380 ÷ 17 = $140.00. That is your stat holiday pay for the day, whether you are off or on shift.

Worked example: a vacation inside the window

In the 30-day window you worked 12 days and took 3 paid vacation days, and your wages for those 15 paid days, including the vacation pay, were $2,100. Because paid vacation days count as days worked, the calculation is $2,100 ÷ 15 = $140.00. If you had counted only the 12 days you physically worked, you would have divided $2,100 by 12 and over-stated the answer at $175.00 — the usual way the average day’s pay goes wrong.

Worked example: working the holiday

Say your average day’s pay is $176 (an 8-hour day at $22.00 an hour). If you work 8 hours on the holiday you earn time and a half for those hours, 8 × $22.00 × 1.5 = $264.00, plus the $176 average day’s pay, for $440.00. If you work 14 hours, the first 12 are paid at time and a half (12 × $22.00 × 1.5 = $396.00), the last 2 at double time (2 × $22.00 × 2 = $88.00), and the $176 is added on top, for $660.00. Those rates are the ones B.C. publishes for work on a statutory holiday.

Who qualifies, and the misconception that costs people money

B.C. sets two tests: you have been employed for 30 calendar days, and you worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday. The province specifically warns against the common belief that you only need to work the day before and the day after. That rule does not exist in B.C. Missing the shift before or after a holiday does not by itself disqualify you under the 15-of-30-days test.

If you do not qualify, you are not paid stat holiday pay, but you are paid your regular rate if you work on the holiday. The calculator on this page assumes you qualify; if you are close to the 30-day or 15-day line, check your own count first.

Employees who are excluded

The B.C. qualification page lists groups the Employment Standards Regulation takes out of stat holiday pay, including nursing students and volunteer fire fighters, farm workers, managers, fishers, high technology professionals, silviculture workers (where they receive 4.4% on each pay cheque instead), certain commission sales employees, and car and truck sales employees (also where 4.4% is paid on each cheque instead). Each exclusion has its own section in the Regulation and its own conditions, so being in one of these job categories is a reason to read the section, not proof that you are excluded.

When the holiday lands on a day off

If a statutory holiday falls on a regular or scheduled day off, a qualifying employee should still be paid the average day’s pay. This matters most for part-time and compressed-week workers, whose days off move around: the holiday pays whenever you qualify, not only when it lands on a scheduled shift. The divisor is days actually worked in the window, so a part-time employee receives a day’s pay in proportion to the days they work, not a fraction of a full-timer’s.

BC statutory holiday dates, 2026 and 2027

These dates come from the province’s own table. Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in B.C.

Common mistakes and what this page does not cover

• Including overtime in the wages. B.C. excludes it. Adding it inflates the average day’s pay.
• Dividing by 30 or by 20. Some provinces use a fixed divisor. B.C. divides by days worked.
• Counting only days on site. Paid vacation, paid sick days and other stat holidays count as days worked.
• Assuming a contract or union agreement is irrelevant. They can only be better than the Act, never worse, and a collective agreement can replace parts of it.

The calculator estimates the statutory minimum for one holiday. It does not decide whether you are covered by an exclusion, apply a collective agreement, or work out vacation pay, termination pay or tax. If you believe you were not paid correctly, the B.C. calculation page points to its Employment Standards contact and complaint options.

Related: stat holiday pay by province, stat holiday dates, BC overtime pay and BC vacation pay.