Ontario Public Holiday Pay Changes

Effective July 1, 2018, the public holiday pay calculation will revert to the old formula that applied prior to the Bill 148 that was passed on November 22, 2017.

On May 7, 2018, the Ontario Government filed O. Reg. 375/18 as an interim measure. Public holiday pay will return to the following calculation under the ESA:

The employee’s public holiday pay for a given public holiday shall be equal to the total amount of regular wages earned and vacation pay payable to the employee in the four work weeks before the work week in which the public holiday occurred, divided by 20.

O. Reg. 375/18 will remain in force until December 31, 2019.

The Bill 148 amendment of the public holiday pay formula removed any proration of an employee’s holiday pay based on the amount of time the employee had actually worked in the qualifying period, resulted in enhanced holiday pay obligations for many employers, particularly in relation to part-time and casual workers.