On February 7, 2023, the BC government introduced Bill 2, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to recognize September 30 as a public holiday. Once passed, the Bill will amend the Employment Standards Act to include the day as the 11th provincial statutory holiday. September 30 is already recognized as a holiday for federal employees, as well as in PEI and the Canadian Territories. In BC, the current list of statutory holidays are as follows:
- New Years’ Day
- Family Day
- Good Friday
- Victoria Day
- Canada Day
- BC Day
- Labour Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Remembrance Day; and
- Christmas Day
The majority of BC provincial employees qualify for statutory holiday pay if they have been employed for 30 calendar days and have earned wages (which may include paid vacation) on 15 of the 30 days before the statutory holiday. Managers and certain other types of employees are not entitled to statutory holiday pay.
Employees who qualify for statutory holiday pay must be paid an average day’s pay (excluding overtime) for the holiday, if it falls on a day off. If an employee who qualifies for statutory holiday pay works on the holiday, they are entitled to be paid an average day’s pay, plus time and a half for hours worked, and double time for hours worked over 12 hours.
If you have any questions about the new proposed statutory holiday or any other Employment Standards Act requirement, please contact our Vancouver or Victoria lawyers.
