Vacations & Vacation Pay

Employees not covered by the Employment Standards Code are not entitled to the vacation benefits set out in the Code.

The following workers are also not eligible for annual vacations and vacation pay:

• Salespeople who solicit orders mainly outside of their employer’s place of business and who are paid in part or in full by commission
• Real estate brokers
• Dealers or advisers who trade securities
• Insurance agents who are paid only on commission
• Extras in a film or video production

The above workers can get vacation benefits if the employee and employer agree on it.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

No. Construction workers are not entitled to annual vacations with pay.

Construction workers must be paid vacation pay equal to at least 6% of their wages. An employer must pay vacation pay on whichever of the following occurs first:

• annually (before December 31^st each year)

OR

• on the day before the construction worker starts an annual vacation (if the construction worker gets one).

Last Reviewed: August 2019

You are entitled to take a vacation with pay after working for the same employer for one year.

If your employer uses a common anniversary date, then you can take your annual vacation after the first common anniversary date. If you have worked for less than one year though, your annual vacation will be prorated. For example, if you started work on July 1^st and your employer has a common anniversary of January 1^st, you are entitled to take an annual vacation of only one week (half of your 2 weeks since you only worked for half of a year) after January 1^st.

Some employers may let you take vacation with pay before completing one year of employment. For example, you may earn a certain number of vacation days each month and not have to wait a full year to start using them. However, this is up to the employer to decide if they want to allow their employees to do this or not.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Yes. An employer is allowed to use a common anniversary date for all employees as long as employees do not lose vacation time because of it.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Yes, as long as you are eligible for vacations and vacation pay.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Under the Employment Standards Code, you are entitled to the following:

• minimum of 2 weeks of vacation each year after 12 months of employment
• minimum of 3 weeks of vacation each year after 5 years of employment

Your employer can always agree to give you more than the minimum.

You do not accrue vacation time when you are away on certain leaves (maternity, parental, reservist, compassionate care, death or disappearance of a child, critical illness of a child, long-term illness and injury and others listed in division 7.6 of the Code). However, any time you are away on leave is included when calculating your years of employment to figure out how much vacation time you are entitled to.

Last Reviewed: November 2020

You must take your vacation within 12 months of becoming entitled to it. You can take your vacation in pieces (a few days here and there) if your employer agrees. Each vacation period must be at least half a day long. For example, if you earned 2 weeks of vacation between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, you must take 2 weeks of vacation sometime in 2019.

If you and your employer cannot agree when you can take your vacation, your employer has to give you at least 2 weeks’ written notice of the start date of your annual vacation. If this happens, you must take your vacation when your employer says so.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

If you are paid a salary each month, your employer continues to pay your salary while you are on vacation. (Technically speaking, vacation pay for each week of vacation is equal to your monthly salary divided by 4.33 – the average number of weeks per month.)

If you are not paid monthly (such as if you are paid hourly, weekly or on commission), vacation pay is equal to:

• 4% of your annual wages if you are entitled to 2 weeks’ vacation
• 6% of your annual wages if you are entitled to 3 weeks’ vacation

Vacation pay is based on wages for the year the vacation time was earned. For example, if your vacation year is from January 1st until December 31st and you are taking a vacation in 2019, your vacation pay will be based on your wages between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Vacation pay is based on your “wages”.

Wages include:

• salary
• hourly pay
• money paid for time off instead of overtime pay
• commission or other incentive-based pay

Wages do not include:

• overtime pay
• general holiday pay
• vacation pay (except that vacation pay is added to wages in order to calculate the next year’s vacation pay)
• termination pay
• bonuses or gifts not tied to performance
• expenses or allowances
• tips or other gratuities

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Your employer does not have to pay your vacation pay until the next regular payday after your vacation begins. If you want it sooner, you can ask your employer to pay your vacation pay at least one day before the vacation starts. If you make this request, your employer must comply with it.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

No. By law, employers must give vacation time and employees must take it.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

No. Your boss must give you either vacation time or vacation pay.

However, your boss can refuse to give you a vacation at a certain time. If you and your employer cannot agree on when you can take your vacation, your employer has to give you at least 2 weeks’ written notice of the start date of your annual vacation. If this happens, you must take your vacation when your employer says so.

If you have worked less than 12 months, your boss does not have to agree to give you a vacation before your first 12 months of work are done.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Yes. If you were scheduled to work but did not, your employer can reduce your vacation and vacation pay in proportion to the number of days you did not work.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

Yes. Your employer has to pay you vacation pay that you have earned.

Last Reviewed: August 2019

No. Two things:

1. Your employer cannot pay you less than the vacation pay set out in the Employment Standards Code.
2. If your employer is paying you more than the minimum, your employer can only reduce the rate if they give you notice of the reduction before the start of the pay period where the reduction takes effect.

Last Reviewed: August 2019