Monday, December 11, 2017

NEW Calculation for Public Holiday Pay Effective January 1, 2018

Copyright: Oleg Kozhan/123RF Stock Photo


On January 1, 2018, the section of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 dealing with public holiday pay is revised. The new method for calculating public holiday pay comes into effect. Are you ready to calculate public holiday pay for the January 1, 2018, public holiday?

Calculation of public holiday pay (also known as statutory pay) will not be the same for entitlements for the New Year’s Day public holiday pay as it was for the calculation of 2017 Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The amount an employee is entitled to be paid for the January 1, 2018, public holiday, is equal to:

Total amount of regular wages earned
in the pay period immediately before Jan. 1, 2018
÷ no. of days employee worked in that period

For example, if employee, John, earned $500 for the pay period December 24 to 30, 2017, and John worked 4 days during that period, he would be entitled to $125 in public holiday pay for January 1, 2018 ($500 ÷ 4 = $125).

OLD calculation:  John would have had to work on the last scheduled work day before January 1, 2018, and the next scheduled work day after January 1, 2018, to be entitled to public holiday pay. So, if John did not show up for work on the day before or after the public holiday, without reasonable cause for missing the day, he would not be entitled to public holiday pay. Also the calculation was different. The public holiday was calculated on the amount of earnings for the four weeks prior to the public holiday divided by 20.

What if the employee did not work during pay period before January 1, 2018?

If the employee was on vacation or on a leave under section 50 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000, during the entire pay period immediately before the January 1, 2018, public holiday, then you calculate the public holiday pay on the pay period before the start of the leave or vacation.

What if you have a new employee that started work during the pay period that includes January 1, 2018?

If you have a new employee that was not employed during the pay period immediately before the January 1, 2018, public holiday, then you calculate that employee’s public holiday pay on his/her regular wages earned in the paid period that includes the public holiday divided by the number of days the employee worked in that period.

There are a number of additional changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 many of which are taking effect on January 1, 2018, such as vacation time increase, leaves of absence, and personal sick days. Are you ready?

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Christina J. Wallis is a Partner lawyer practising civil litigation with a focus in Employment Law at Dale & Lessmann LLP, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a full service business law firm. To speak to Christina please call 416-369-7832 or send an email message to her at cwallis@dalelessmann.com.

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