Ontario has nine public holidays in 2026 and a statutory holiday pay formula that most employers believe they understand and many quietly get wrong. The formula itself is not complicated. What trips people up is what counts as "wages" in the calculation — and the three edge cases that the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) treats differently from every other province.
This post covers the exact formula, the full 2026 holiday calendar, and the three most common employer mistakes that generate Ministry of Labour disputes in Ontario.
The Ontario formula, in plain English
Ontario's stat holiday pay is calculated using what the Employment Standards Act calls the "regular wages + vacation pay over the prior 4 workweeks, divided by 20" method.
The calculation:
Stat holiday pay = (Regular wages earned + vacation pay paid in the 4 workweeks before the holiday) ÷ 20
What this looks like in practice:
An employee earns $1,200/week ($24/hour × 50 hours, but only 40 regular hours — overtime is excluded). Over the four workweeks before a stat holiday:
- Regular wages: $1,000/week × 4 = $4,000
- Vacation pay paid out during those four weeks: $0 (employee hasn't taken vacation)
- Total: $4,000 ÷ 20 = $200.00 stat holiday pay
If that same employee had received a $400 vacation payout during those four weeks:
- Total: $4,400 ÷ 20 = $220.00 stat holiday pay
The vacation pay inclusion is the part that trips up most payroll systems set to Ontario defaults.
The 2026 Ontario statutory holiday calendar
| Holiday | 2026 Date | Day of Week | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1 | Thursday | — |
| Family Day | February 16 | Monday | 3rd Monday in February |
| Good Friday | April 3 | Friday | — |
| Victoria Day | May 18 | Monday | Monday before May 25 |
| Canada Day | July 1 | Wednesday | — |
| Labour Day | September 7 | Monday | 1st Monday in September |
| Thanksgiving | October 12 | Monday | 2nd Monday in October |
| Christmas Day | December 25 | Friday | — |
| Boxing Day | December 26 | Saturday | → substitute day, see below |
Boxing Day 2026 falls on a Saturday. Since most employees don't work Saturdays, employers must grant a substitute day off with holiday pay — typically Monday, December 28 — or pay an additional day's wages. Skipping the substitute day is a common end-of-year compliance miss.
Total Ontario public holidays: 9.
(Note: Civic Holiday in August is not a statutory holiday in Ontario, despite being widely treated as one. Employers who give it voluntarily are doing so at their discretion — and do not have to. Employers who give it and then want to remove it may have an issue with "past practice" under the ESA.)
What counts as "regular wages" — and what doesn't
This is the calculation detail that generates the most claims.
Included in Ontario stat holiday pay:
- Hourly wages (regular hours only, not overtime premium)
- Base salary
- Non-discretionary bonuses (any bonus that employees are entitled to based on objective criteria — sales targets, performance metrics with defined thresholds)
- Commissions
- Piece-rate earnings
- Vacation pay paid out during the four-week window
Excluded from Ontario stat holiday pay:
- Overtime premium (the "½" in time-and-a-half — the base rate is included, the premium is not)
- Discretionary bonuses (e.g. a one-time Christmas thank-you payment)
- Expense reimbursements
- Employer benefit premiums
The vacation pay inclusion is Ontario-specific. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba use a simple 5% of 4 weeks' wages formula that does not have a vacation pay component. BC uses a completely different 30-day formula. If your payroll system was set up by someone used to Alberta or BC rules and applied to Ontario, it is likely computing stat pay without the vacation pay line — which means systematic underpayment to anyone who takes vacation between January and December.
The three traps that cost Ontario SMBs real money
Trap 1: Forgetting vacation pay in the formula
The most common Ontario-specific error. An employee received $640 in vacation pay during the four weeks before Thanksgiving. The payroll run uses only their regular wages, producing a stat pay of $200. The correct number is $232 ($4,640 ÷ 20).
Multiply that $32 shortfall across 12 employees over nine holidays a year and you have a $3,456 underpayment exposure before interest. The Ministry of Labour calculates from the date of the first violation, not the date of the complaint.
Trap 2: Misapplying the "work the day before and after" rule
Ontario's ESA requires employees to work their last scheduled day before a holiday and their first scheduled day after. But the operative word is "scheduled."
Common error: an employee calls in sick the day before Family Day. The employer docks their stat holiday pay. But if the employee had reasonable cause — illness is explicitly included — entitlement is preserved. Denying stat pay in this scenario is an ESA violation.
A related error: terminating an employee on the day before a stat holiday to avoid paying it. This is treated as a violation under the ESA and the Employment Standards Officer will calculate the statutory holiday pay as owing.
Trap 3: Getting the "normal working day" calculation wrong for salaried staff
For a salaried employee who works irregular hours, stat holiday pay of annual salary ÷ 260 is the naive approach and often the wrong one. The ESA formula applies to everyone — salaried employees included. You still look at the actual wages earned in the four workweeks before the holiday.
Where this bites: a salaried employee who also receives a non-discretionary quarterly bonus. The bonus is paid in January, April, July, October. Employees whose stat holiday falls close to their quarterly payout have a different stat holiday pay entitlement than employees whose holidays fall between payouts. Running all salaried staff at salary ÷ 260 year-round ignores this.
What if the employee works the stat holiday?
If an employee works on a public holiday in Ontario, they are entitled to:
Option A (default): Regular stat holiday pay for the day + premium pay (1.5× their regular rate) for all hours actually worked.
Option B (by written agreement): A substitute day off with regular pay at a mutually agreed time, + regular pay for the hours worked on the holiday.
Option B requires a written agreement before the holiday. Verbal agreements are not sufficient for ESA purposes.
Example: An employee earns $22/hour and works 7 hours on Canada Day. Under Option A:
- Stat holiday pay: calculated per the formula above (let's say $176 based on prior 4 weeks)
- Premium pay: 7 hours × $22 × 1.5 = $231
- Total for the day: $407
This is a materially different number than "time and a half," which many Ontario employers mistakenly treat as the total entitlement. The stat holiday pay and the premium pay are additive.
The "four workweeks before" — how to count them
"Workweeks" in the ESA means the employer's defined workweek, not a rolling 28-day window. If your workweek runs Monday to Sunday, count backwards from the last full workweek before the holiday.
For Canada Day 2026 (Wednesday, July 1):
- Last full workweek: June 22–28
- Four workweeks: June 1–28
- Use all wages (including vacation pay) paid in those four weeks
This distinction matters when a holiday falls mid-week. A Wednesday holiday means the week of June 29 – July 5 is excluded from the lookback, even though some of those days are in June.
Quick-reference: Ontario vs. other provinces
| Province | Formula | Vacation pay in formula? |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | (Wages + vacation pay in 4 workweeks) ÷ 20 | Yes |
| Federal | Wages in 4 workweeks ÷ 20 | No |
| Alberta | 5% of wages in 4 workweeks | No |
| Saskatchewan | 5% of wages in 4 workweeks | No |
| Manitoba | 5% of wages in 4 workweeks | No |
| British Columbia | Total wages in 30 days ÷ days worked | No |
If you operate in multiple provinces, do not apply Ontario's formula uniformly. Each province requires its own calculation. Hibiscus HR tracks the correct formula per employee's province of work automatically — including the Ontario-specific vacation pay inclusion.
How to calculate it in 30 seconds
Rather than running this formula manually for each employee every holiday, use the free calculator:
→ Ontario Stat Holiday Pay Calculator — hibiscushr.ca/tools/stat-holiday-pay-calculator
Enter the employee's wages and vacation pay for the prior four weeks, select Ontario, and get the dollar amount instantly. The calculator uses the correct provincial formula — no spreadsheet, no guessing which row to use.
The compliance risk in plain terms
Ontario's Employment Standards Act claims have a two-year limitation window. An employee who suspects they have been underpaid stat holiday pay for the last 18 months can file a complaint with the Ministry of Labour today. The Employment Standards Officer will request payroll records and calculate the deficit from the date of the first violation. You cover back-pay, interest, and potentially an administrative penalty.
For most Ontario SMBs, the risk is not a single large error — it's a small systematic error (the missing vacation pay inclusion, or a salaried employee on salary ÷ 260) applied across every employee on every holiday for two years. That pattern is what ESA investigations typically uncover.
The calculation is the easy part. The hard part is running it correctly, automatically, for every employee in every province, on every pay run, without anyone having to remember which formula applies where. That is what Hibiscus HR is built to do — Canadian employment standards compliance, with your data stored in Canada.
See how Hibiscus HR handles stat holiday pay automatically → hibiscushr.ca/features