New Brunswick stat holiday pay.

Is Victoria Day a stat holiday in New Brunswick?

No. The province’s list of paid public holidays has eight days: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Canada Day, New Brunswick Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. The Employment Standards Act defines “public holiday” with exactly that list, plus any day substituted for one of them. Victoria Day, Easter Monday, Thanksgiving, Boxing Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are not on it, so an employer is not required to pay a day’s pay for them under the Act, though many give the day off by policy or contract.

How the holiday pay is worked out

A qualifying employee who does not work the holiday gets a regular day’s pay. If your pay is the same each day, that is simple. If it varies, the province says to use an average day’s pay based on all hours worked, excluding overtime, in the 30 days immediately before the holiday.

Worked example: varying hours

In the 30 days before Labour Day you earned $2,160 across 18 days of regular-time work. That is $2,160 ÷ 18 = $120.00 for the holiday. Overtime hours are left out before you do the division.

Worked example: working the holiday

You earn $20.00 an hour and your regular day is 8 hours ($160.00). If you qualify and work an 8-hour shift on a paid public holiday, you receive your regular day’s pay plus 1½ times your wage for each hour worked: $160.00 + (8 × $20.00 × 1.5 = $240.00) = $400.00. If you work the same shift but do not qualify, you receive only the $240.00 premium.

The five qualifying conditions

1. You have been employed at least 90 calendar days (not workdays) during the 12 months before the holiday.
2. You worked your regular scheduled day before and after the holiday. This is not necessarily the calendar day next to the holiday, and good reasons, including most illness, are accepted.
3. If you agreed to work on the holiday, you reported for and worked your scheduled shift unless there was a good reason not to.
4. You are not employed under an arrangement where you decide when to work or not to work.
5. You are not in an occupation exempted by regulation.

Alternatives your employer may use

• The 4% option. Instead of paying a day’s pay for each holiday, an employer may pay an additional four per cent of all gross wages from the first day of employment. If you also work a holiday, 1½ times your rate for those hours is still owed. On $2,500 of gross wages in a pay period, the 4% extra is $100.00.
• Holiday on a non-working day or in a vacation. A qualifying employee gets another working day off with pay, or, if they agree, a regular day’s pay for that day.
• A substitute day by agreement. The employer and employee may agree to another working day off instead, which must be taken no later than the employee’s next vacation period. Keep a copy of the agreement.
• Continuous operations. A hotel, tourist resort, tavern or restaurant may substitute the holiday on the first working day after the next vacation without the employee’s agreement, or on another day by agreement, paying regular wages for that day.

Who is excluded

The province’s exempt occupations include architecture, dentistry, law, medicine, chiropody, optometry, pharmacy, professional engineering, public or chartered accounting, psychology, surveying, veterinary science, real estate sales, car and mobile home sales, commission-based sales professionals who sell away from the employer’s establishment (other than route sales), and athletes while taking part in activities related to their sport.

What this page does not cover

The calculator estimates the statutory amount for one holiday. It does not apply a collective agreement, work out vacation pay, or decide whether you fall into an exempt occupation. For dates see stat holiday dates, and for neighbouring rules see Nova Scotia, New Brunswick overtime and stat holiday pay by province.