Every stat holiday puts a calculation decision on your plate. For most Canadian SMBs, that decision gets made the same way every time: copy what was done last time, assume it's correct, move on. That works fine until it doesn't — and when it stops working, you typically find out through a complaint, not a routine audit.
The problem is not that stat holiday pay is complicated. It isn't. The problem is that Canada has four different formulas, and they don't all produce the same number. If you're running the Ontario formula on your Alberta team, or the Alberta formula on your BC employees, you're getting the wrong answer. Possibly every single stat, every single year.
This guide walks through the exact calculation for each formula family, with worked examples, so you can run it confidently — or verify what your payroll software is doing.
The four formula families (and which provinces use each)
Before doing any math, you need to know which formula applies to each employee based on their province of work — not where your business is registered, and not where you're headquartered.
| Formula | Provinces |
|---|---|
| 1/20 of wages in prior 4 weeks | Ontario, Quebec, Federal (Canada Labour Code), Yukon |
| 5% of wages in prior 4 weeks | Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba |
| Regular day's pay | New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland & Labrador, NWT, Nunavut |
| Wages in prior 30 days ÷ days worked | British Columbia (only) |
For employees covered by the federal Canada Labour Code (transportation, banking, telecommunications, federal Crown corporations), use the Ontario/Quebec 1/20 formula regardless of the province they work in.
Formula 1: Ontario, Quebec, Federal, Yukon — the 1/20 rule
The formula: Add up the employee's total wages earned in the four complete workweeks before the week of the holiday. Divide by 20.
Stat pay = Total wages in the 4 workweeks before the holiday week ÷ 20
Ontario nuance: Include any vacation pay that was paid during those four workweeks in the total wages.
Quebec nuance: Vacation pay is excluded. Use regular wages only.
Worked example — Ontario, weekly pay cycle
Sarah is an Ontario employee on a weekly pay cycle. The stat holiday is Victoria Day, Monday May 19, 2026.
The four workweeks before the holiday week (ending May 18) are:
- Week ending April 27: $1,200
- Week ending May 4: $1,100
- Week ending May 11: $950 (took a sick day)
- Week ending May 18: $1,200
Total = $4,450. Vacation pay of $178 was paid on May 4. Ontario total (wages + vacation pay) = $4,628.
Stat pay = $4,628 ÷ 20 = $231.40
That's what Sarah is owed for Victoria Day if she doesn't work it. If she does work it, she also earns 1.5× her regular rate for hours worked on top of this amount.
Formula 2: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba — the 5% rule
The formula: Add up the employee's total wages earned in the 4 workweeks before the stat holiday (not necessarily "before the holiday week" — just the 28 calendar days before the holiday). Take 5% of that total.
Stat pay = Total wages in the 4 weeks before the holiday × 5%
The 5% rule and the 1/20 rule look similar — and for a full-time employee working consistent hours they produce nearly identical results ($4,500 × 5% = $225 vs. $4,500 ÷ 20 = $225). The divergence appears with part-timers, employees on variable schedules, and anyone who took unpaid time in that window.
Worked example — Alberta, bi-weekly pay cycle
Marcus is an Alberta employee on a bi-weekly cycle. The stat holiday is Alberta Family Day, Monday February 16, 2026.
The 4 weeks before February 16:
- Jan 19–Feb 1 (bi-weekly pay period): $2,600
- Feb 2–Feb 15 (bi-weekly pay period): $2,200
Total wages = $4,800.
Stat pay = $4,800 × 5% = $240.00
Marcus doesn't work the stat. He gets $240.00 for Family Day. If he had worked the holiday, Alberta requires you to pay the $240.00 stat pay plus 1.5× his regular rate for hours actually worked.
Formula 3: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland & Labrador, NWT, Nunavut — regular day's pay
The formula: Pay the employee what they would normally earn in a regular workday.
For salaried employees, this is straightforward:
Stat pay = Annual salary ÷ 260 working days
For hourly employees with consistent schedules, it's:
Stat pay = Normal daily hours × hourly rate
For hourly employees with irregular schedules, use the average daily hours over a meaningful recent window — typically the number of hours they'd typically work on that day of the week.
Worked example — Nova Scotia, hourly employee
Lin works Monday through Friday at $22/hr, 8 hours per day. The stat holiday is Nova Scotia Heritage Day (the third Monday in February).
Lin's regular day's pay = 8 hours × $22.00 = $176.00.
That's the stat pay. Simple.
Nova Scotia specific note: Nova Scotia only has 6 statutory holidays per year — the fewest in Canada. Make sure you're not paying for days that aren't actually Nova Scotia stats, and don't miss the ones that are.
Newfoundland specific note: Newfoundland has 12 public holidays. If an employee works the stat, the premium rate is 2× — not 1.5× like most other provinces.
Formula 4: British Columbia — the 30-day average
BC uses a formula no other province uses. It is more precise than the others but also easier to apply incorrectly.
The formula:
Stat pay = Total wages earned in the 30 calendar days before the holiday ÷ Number of days worked in those 30 days
"Days worked" means days the employee actually performed work — not paid days off, not sick days, not the stat holiday itself.
Worked example — BC, salaried part-time employee
Priya works 3 days a week in BC at a salary equivalent to $900/week. The stat holiday is BC Day, Monday August 3, 2026.
In the 30 days before August 3 (July 4 to August 2), Priya worked 13 days and earned $3,600 in wages.
Stat pay = $3,600 ÷ 13 = $276.92
Compare that to the 1/20 rule: $3,600 ÷ 20 = $180.00. The BC formula produces $96.92 more for this employee. Using the Ontario formula on a BC employee systematically underpays part-timers. That gap compounds across every stat in the year — BC has 10 of them.
The "working the stat" rules
When an employee actually works a statutory holiday, most provinces require two things:
- Pay the stat pay calculated as above.
- Pay a premium for hours worked on the holiday — usually 1.5× the regular rate.
The exception is Quebec: no 1.5× premium. Instead, the employer must either pay the stat pay itself (if the employee worked) or provide a substitute compensatory day within three weeks of the holiday. The CNESST has a two-year back-pay window on stat errors, so this one surfaces regularly.
Newfoundland goes the other way: the working-the-stat premium is 2×, not 1.5×.
Always check whether a collective agreement or written employment contract specifies a higher premium — those override the ESA minimums.
The "qualifying" rules — who actually gets stat pay
Most provinces require an employee to have been employed for a minimum period before being eligible for stat pay. Common thresholds:
| Province | Qualifying requirement |
|---|---|
| Ontario | Employed for at least 3 months before the holiday |
| Alberta | Employed for at least 30 working days in the 12 months before the holiday |
| BC | No qualifying period — but the employee must have worked or been on an approved day off on both the scheduled day before and the scheduled day after the holiday |
| Saskatchewan | Employed for at least 30 working days |
| Federal | No qualifying period |
BC's "day before and day after" rule catches a lot of employers. If an employee calls in sick the day before the stat, they can lose entitlement entirely (unless the absence was with permission). Keep records.
Common mistakes that generate back-pay claims
Running one formula for all provinces. This is the most frequent cause of stat pay disputes at multi-province SMBs. The error is invisible on a casual review because the numbers are usually close — until you have a part-timer in BC or a high-earner in Alberta where the formulas diverge meaningfully.
Missing the "wages" definition. Some provinces include commissions, overtime pay, and shift premiums in the wage base for stat calculations. Others don't. Ontario includes vacation pay. Quebec doesn't. If you're excluding earnings that the ESA says to include, you're underpaying. The lookback window in most provinces is two years.
Forgetting the premium for hours actually worked. Stat pay and the working-the-stat premium are two separate amounts. Pay both, or document that a substitute day was given (where the province allows that instead).
Using the prior year's formula without checking for changes. Provincial ESA amendments occasionally update the qualifying rules, lookback window, or the list of recognized stats. This happens without much fanfare. The Saskatchewan Employment Standards Act changed its stat list in 2020 and a surprising number of SMBs didn't update their payroll until an employee pointed it out.
Skip the manual math
If you manage employees in multiple provinces, running these calculations manually every stat holiday is the kind of task that gets rushed and gets wrong. Each province's formula needs different inputs, different lookback windows, and different inclusion rules for what counts as "wages."
→ Use the free Hibiscus HR Stat Holiday Pay Calculator — select the province, enter the employee's recent pay history, and get the correct stat pay amount in seconds. No spreadsheet required, no account needed.
The calculator applies the correct provincial formula automatically. Canadian data only, stored in Canada.
Quick reference: stat holiday counts by province, 2026
| Province | Number of stat holidays |
|---|---|
| Federal | 9 |
| Ontario | 9 |
| Quebec | 8 |
| Alberta | 9 |
| Saskatchewan | 10 |
| Manitoba | 8 |
| British Columbia | 10 |
| New Brunswick | 8 |
| Nova Scotia | 6 |
| PEI | 9 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 12 |
| Yukon | 10 |
| Northwest Territories | 10 |
| Nunavut | 10 |
The variation matters for budgeting as much as for compliance. A Newfoundland employee costs materially more in stat pay than a Nova Scotia employee doing the same job at the same hourly rate — just because of the holiday count difference.
Related reading
- Stat holiday pay in Canada by province — the rules-and-eligibility companion to this post. Which holidays each province recognises, who qualifies, and what the ESA says.
- Vacation pay in Canada by province — the same ESA-by-province treatment for vacation pay. Different math, same principle: one formula doesn't fit every employee.
- Compliance as monitoring — why the "we did it this way last year" approach to ESA calculations is the normal failure mode at SMBs, and what changes when the system watches continuously instead of a human checking at year-end.
Hibiscus HR is Canadian HR and payroll software built for SMBs. All calculations reflect 2026 Employment Standards Act rules. This post is general information, not legal advice — employment standards specifics vary and change. When in doubt, check with an employment lawyer or your provincial ESA office.