Canada Day a public holiday under
Employment Standards Act, 2000
TORONTO,
June 11 /CNW/ - Many workers will get the day off with
"public holiday
pay" on Canada Day on Tuesday, July 1, 2003. Canada Day is one of
eight
public holidays under Ontario's Åmployment
Standards Act, 2000.
QUALIFYING
FOR CANADA DAY ENTITLEMENTS
Generally, employees qualify for Canada Day entitlements unless
they
fail,
without reasonable cause, to work:
-
their
entire regularly-scheduled shift before or after Canada Day; or
-
their
entire shift on Canada Day if they agreed or were required to
work that
day.
Public holiday pay is an amount equal to an employee's regular
wages
earned in
the four work weeks prior to Canada Day plus any vacation pay payable
during that period divided by 20.
Employees who qualify for Canada Day entitlements can be full-time,
part-time, permanent or on a limited-term contract. They can also be
students. It
doesn't
matter how recently they were hired or how many days they worked before
Canada Day.
ENTITLEMENTS
IF CANADA DAY IS A WORKING DAY
Qualified employees are entitled to take off
Canada Day with public holiday pay.
They can also agree in writing to work on Canada Day and:
-
be
paid their regular rate for all hours worked on Canada Day plus
receive a
substitute holiday with public holiday pay; or
-
if
the employee and employer agree in writing, be paid public holiday
pay plus
"premium pay" of one-and-a-half times their regular rate for all hours worked on Canada Day.
ENTITLEMENTS
IF CANADA DAY IS A NON-WORKING DAY
If Canada Day falls on a non-working or vacation
day, qualified employees can
either take a substitute work day off with public holiday pay or, if they
agree in
writing, they can receive public holiday pay for Canada Day with no substitute
day off.
ENTITLEMENTS
FOR NON-QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES
Generally, employees who don't qualify for public
holiday entitlements must work on
Canada Day if asked by their employer. Most non-qualified
employees
are entitled to be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay
for each hour worked on Canada Day. There is no substitute day off.
If a non-qualified employee is not asked to work on Canada Day, he
or she
gets the
day off with no pay.
SPECIAL
RULES / EXCEPTIONS
Retail
Employees
Most employees who work in "retail
businesses" - businesses that sell goods
or services to the public -- have the right to refuse to work on Canada
Day even if
they don't qualify for public holiday entitlements.
Retail employees who have agreed to work on
Canada Day may still refuse the
assignment if they give their employer 48 hours advance notice before the
first hour
of work on Canada Day.
However, these rules for retail employees do not
apply to those who work for
businesses that primarily:
-
sell
prepared meals (restaurants, cafeterias, cafés, etc.);
-
rent
living accommodations (hotels, tourist resorts, camps, inns,
etc.);
-
provide
educational, recreational or amusement services to the public
(museums,
art galleries, sports stadiums, etc.); or
-
sell
goods and services that are incidental to the businesses
described
above and are located on the same premises (museum gift
shops,
souvenir shops in sports stadiums, etc.).
Under the Retail Business Holidays Act, most
retail outlets must close on Canada
Day.
-
Hospitals,
continuous operations and hospitality employees
-
In
some cases, employees in hospitals, continuous operations and the
hospitality industry may be required to work on Canada Day if it falls on
a day they would normally work and if they are not on vacation. This
applies to employees who work for hospitals, nursing homes, hotels,
motels, tourist resorts, restaurants and taverns, as well as to employees
who work for continuous operations (operations or parts of operations that
do not stop or close more than once a week such as oil refineries and
alarm monitoring companies).
Elect-to-work
employees
Elect-to-work employees -- those who decide without penalty whether
or not to work when requested -- are not covered by the public holidays
provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 except for the right to
be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for each hour
worked on Canada Day.
EMPLOYEES
NOT ELIGIBLE FOR PAID PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Some employees are not eligible for Canada Day entitlements because
public holiday provisions under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 do not
apply to certain jobs. These employees include:
-
seasonal
workers (employees who work for an employer no more than
-
16
weeks in a calendar year) in a hotel, motel, tourist resort, restaurant or
tavern who are provided with room and board;
-
taxicab
drivers;
-
professionals
such as lawyers, doctors, teachers, architects, chiropodists,
chiropractors, dentists, massage therapists, ptometrists, pharmacists,
professional engineers, physiotherapists,
psychologists, public accountants, surveyors, veterinarians and
those covered under the Drugless Practitioners Act;
-
students
in training for any of the professions listed above;
-
students
who instruct or supervise children or who work at a children's camp or
recreational program operated by a charitable organization;
-
hunting
and fishing guides, commercial fishers and some farm workers;
-
commissioned
salespeople, except route salespeople, who normally work away from their
employer's place of business;
-
employees
who install and maintain swimming pools;
-
employees
in landscape gardening, mushroom growing, or the growing, transporting and
laying of sod;
-
employees
who grow flowers or trees and shrubs for retail and wholesale trade;
-
employees
who breed and board horses on a farm or who keep fur-bearing mammals for
propagation or the production of pelts for commercial purposes;
-
construction
workers who receive 7.3 per cent or more of their wages for vacation pay
or holiday pay;
-
residential
building superintendents, janitors or caretakers who live in the building;
-
firefighters;
and
-
registered
real estate salespeople.
INFORMATION
SOURCES
For more information,
employees and employers should call the Ontario Ministry of Labour's
Employment Standards General Inquiry Line at (416) 326-7160 or
1-800-531-5551, or they should check the blue pages of their local phone
book for the nearest Ministry of Labour office.
Written information -- including employment
standards fact sheets on subjects such as public holidays and Your Guide
to the Employment Standards Act -- can be accessed via the Ontario
Ministry of Labour's:
-
website at www.gov.on.ca/lab/