Your estimated holiday pay
Each regime has its own look-back period and divisor. Change the regime and the hint under each field restates what to enter.
Free tool · Canada · Estimate only
Statutory Holiday Pay Calculator
Pick the rules that cover the job — Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, or federally regulated — and enter the wages from the look-back period those rules use. The calculator applies that regime's published formula and shows the holiday pay for a day off, plus the total if the employee works the holiday. This is an estimate only, worked out from the numbers you enter. It is not advice, and it does not decide whether an employee qualifies.
Written November 13, 2026
Most jobs follow their province's rules. The federal rules cover jobs such as banking, interprovincial transport, and telecommunications.
Ontario: regular wages earned in the four work weeks before the week of the holiday. Regular wages do not include overtime pay, vacation pay, public holiday pay, or premium pay.
Ontario adds vacation pay payable for the same four work weeks. If vacation pay is paid on every paycheque, that amount is at least 4% of wages. In British Columbia, Alberta, and the federal rules, leave this at 0 — vacation pay is not added there.
British Columbia divides by the days worked or wages earned in the 30 calendar days before the holiday. Alberta divides by the days worked in the four-week period. Ontario and the federal rules divide by 20 and do not use this field.
Used only for the worked-the-holiday total, at the premium rate for the regime you picked.
Leave at 0 to see the day-off figure on its own. British Columbia pays double time for hours over 12; the other regimes use one premium rate for all hours entered.
How the estimate works
Ontario. Public holiday pay is all of the regular wages earned in the four work weeks before the work week with the public holiday, plus all of the vacation pay payable for those four work weeks, divided by 20. An employee who agrees to work the holiday can be paid public holiday pay plus premium pay, which is 1.5 times the regular rate, for the hours worked. Source: Government of Ontario, Public holidays — Your guide to the Employment Standards Act.
British Columbia. Statutory holiday pay is an average day's pay: total wages in the 30 calendar days before the holiday, not including overtime, divided by the number of days worked or wages earned in that period. An employee who works the holiday is paid time-and-a-half for hours up to 12, double time for hours over 12, plus an average day's pay. Sources: Government of British Columbia, Calculate statutory holiday pay.
Alberta. General holiday pay is built on the average daily wage: wages in a four-week period divided by the days worked in that period, with overtime pay left out. The employer picks one of two periods: the four weeks immediately before the general holiday, or the four weeks ending on the last day of the pay period before the holiday. An employee who works a holiday that is a regular day of work can be paid the average daily wage plus 1.5 times the wage rate for the hours worked, or regular wages for the hours worked plus a paid day off later. Source: Government of Alberta, Employment standards — Alberta general holidays.
Federally regulated. For most employees, general holiday pay is at least one-twentieth (1/20) of the wages, excluding overtime pay, earned in the four-week period immediately before the week in which the general holiday occurs. An employee required to work the holiday is paid at least 1.5 times the regular rate for the time worked, in addition to general holiday pay. Commission-paid and longshoring rules differ and are not covered here. Source: Government of Canada, Annual vacations and general holidays for employees working for federally regulated employers.
Next step: read the full step-by-step guide: Hiring Your First Employee in Canada Checklist: Business Number, Payroll, Employment Standards, and Year-End Reporting