By Deeyoung MaLinkedInWebsiteMay 7, 202610 min readLabour StandardsReviewed July 31, 2026
Stat Holiday Pay for Restaurant Staff
Restaurant stat holiday pay guide: eligibility, premium pay math, substitute days, and province-specific payroll traps in Canada.
A holiday can change opening hours, staffing, and payroll review, but it does not create one Canada-wide formula. Start with the province or territory where the employee works, then confirm the date, eligibility, worked-holiday option, and pay calculation separately.
This guide is an operator checklist, not legal advice or a payroll result. Federally regulated workplaces follow federal rules; most restaurant workplaces follow the applicable provincial or territorial employment standards.
Current seven-province holiday map
Ontario currently lists 9 public holidays, British Columbia 11 statutory holidays, Alberta 9 general holidays, Quebec 8 statutory general holidays, Nova Scotia 6 holidays with pay, New Brunswick 8 paid public holidays, and Prince Edward Island 8 paid holidays. The table below was rechecked against official sources on July 31, 2026.
| Holiday / timing | ON | BC | AB | QC | NS | NB | PEI | Manager review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day January 1 |
Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Confirm the jurisdiction's rule when the date falls on a non-working day. |
| February holiday Usually third Monday |
Family Day | Family Day | Alberta Family Day | Not a statutory holiday | Nova Scotia Heritage Day | Family Day | Islander Day | The names differ, but ON, BC, AB, NS, NB, and PEI include a paid February holiday. |
| Easter holiday | Good Friday | Good Friday | Good Friday | Good Friday or Easter Monday, employer's choice | Good Friday | Good Friday | Good Friday | Do not assume Quebec observes both dates. |
| Victoria Day / National Patriots' Day Monday before May 25 |
Victoria Day | Victoria Day | Victoria Day | National Patriots' Day | Not a paid holiday | Not a paid public holiday | Not a paid holiday | New Brunswick may treat Victoria Day as a prescribed day of rest without making it a paid public holiday. |
| Quebec National Holiday June 24 |
Not an Ontario public holiday | Not a BC statutory holiday | Not an Alberta general holiday | National Holiday | Not a Nova Scotia paid holiday | Not an NB paid public holiday | Not a PEI paid holiday | Quebec's National Holiday has its own legislation and must not be omitted from the Quebec list. |
| Canada Day July 1 |
Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Check the official substitution rule when July 1 falls on a Sunday or a non-working day. |
| First Monday in August | Not an ESA public holiday | BC Day | Heritage Day is optional | Not a statutory holiday | Natal Day is not a province-wide paid holiday | New Brunswick Day | Not a paid holiday | Alberta holiday-pay rules apply only if the employer chooses to recognize Heritage Day. |
| Labour Day First Monday in September |
Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Confirm eligibility and the worked-holiday option before payroll. |
| National Day for Truth and Reconciliation September 30 |
Not an ESA public holiday | Statutory holiday | Optional holiday | Not a Quebec statutory holiday | Not a Labour Standards Code paid holiday | Not an NB paid public holiday | Paid holiday | Federal employees follow the federal list; this row is for provincially regulated restaurant workplaces. |
| Thanksgiving Second Monday in October |
Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Not a paid holiday | Not a paid public holiday | Not a paid holiday | Quebec Thanksgiving is a statutory general holiday. |
| Remembrance Day November 11 |
Not an ESA public holiday | Statutory holiday | General holiday | Not a statutory holiday | Separate Remembrance Day Act | Paid public holiday | Paid holiday | Nova Scotia uses separate opening and pay rules; it is not one of the province's six Labour Standards Code holidays with pay. |
| Christmas Day December 25 |
Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | Paid holiday | A closure does not by itself decide eligibility or the amount owed. |
| Boxing Day December 26 |
Paid holiday | Not a statutory holiday | Not a general holiday | Not a statutory holiday | Not a paid holiday | Not a paid public holiday | Not a paid holiday | Ontario is the only paid-holiday jurisdiction in this seven-province comparison. |
A named paid-holiday cell identifies the province's official name. Optional, prescribed-rest, civic, and separate-act cells require their own policy or legal review and must not be converted automatically into statutory-holiday pay.
Eligibility is jurisdiction-specific
Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island include scheduled-attendance conditions, but their tenure, lookback, permission, and reasonable-cause rules are not identical. British Columbia generally uses 30 calendar days of employment plus work or wages earned on 15 of the previous 30 calendar days. Alberta generally requires 30 workdays in the prior 12 months and then asks whether the holiday is a regular workday. Do not apply one province's last-and-first test across Canada.
Keep the published schedule, actual hours, approved absences, employment start date, wage history, and any written holiday-work or substitute-day agreement. Maxuod Shift can preserve some of those inputs, but a payroll reviewer still has to apply the correct jurisdiction's test.
Separate four decisions before calculating
- Date: Is this a legislated paid holiday, an optional employer holiday, a prescribed closing day, or only a civic observance?
- Eligibility: Does the employee meet that jurisdiction's tenure, work-history, attendance, classification, and exemption rules?
- Worked-holiday treatment: Does the rule require premium pay, regular wages plus a substitute day, another formula, or a written agreement?
- Amount: Which wages, vacation pay, tips, days, or weeks enter the official lookback formula?
A restaurant being open does not prove that every employee receives time-and-a-half plus holiday pay. A restaurant being closed does not prove that nothing is owed. The employee's jurisdiction, eligibility, regular-workday facts, and permitted compensation option decide the result.
Ontario example, with the assumptions visible
Assume an Ontario employee qualifies, earns $17 per hour, works 8 hours on the public holiday, and has $2,880 of regular wages plus $0 of vacation pay payable in the four work weeks before the holiday week. Ontario public holiday pay is ($2,880 + $0) ÷ 20 = $144. If the employee and employer use the written/electronic premium-pay option, premium pay is 8 × $17 × 1.5 = $204, for $348 before deductions. If they use the substitute-holiday option instead, the treatment is different. This example must not be copied into another province.
Restaurant payroll handoff checklist
- Record the employee's province or territory and the official holiday name.
- Keep planned and actual hours separate.
- Attach the eligibility facts and any approved absence.
- Record whether the employee worked and which permitted compensation option was agreed.
- Preserve the official lookback inputs and the calculation used.
- Flag exemptions, collective agreements, continuous-operation rules, federal jurisdiction, or incomplete history for specialist review.
Official sources checked on July 31, 2026: Ontario public holidays, British Columbia statutory holidays, Alberta general holidays, Quebec statutory holidays, Nova Scotia holiday pay, New Brunswick holidays and vacation, and Prince Edward Island paid holidays.
For planning, use the Canada overtime and stat holiday reference, restaurant shift management in Canada, and the employee hours calculator. These tools support review and handoff; they do not issue final payroll or guarantee compliance.
FAQ
Do restaurants have to pay stat holiday pay in Canada?
Most restaurant workplaces follow provincial or territorial employment standards. Whether pay is owed depends on whether the date is a legislated paid holiday, whether the employee qualifies, whether they worked, and which compensation option the jurisdiction permits.
Are part-time restaurant staff eligible for stat holiday pay?
Part-time and casual staff can be eligible, but the test is not national. Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island use scheduled-attendance conditions; British Columbia uses employment and prior-work criteria; Alberta also examines prior workdays and whether the holiday is a regular workday.
Do tips get included in stat holiday pay?
The answer depends on the jurisdiction and how tips are defined or reported. Confirm whether the official formula uses regular wages, gross wages, vacation pay, declared or attributed tips, and a specific lookback period before calculating.
Are Alberta Heritage Day and Manitoba Terry Fox Day statutory holidays?
No automatic statutory treatment applies. Alberta lists Heritage Day as an optional holiday and applies general-holiday rules only if the employer chooses to recognize it. Manitoba states that Terry Fox Day is not a general holiday, although an employer policy may provide time off or pay.
Written as an operator checklist, not legal or payroll advice. Confirm local rules before changing pay, holiday, or tip policies.
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Build the schedule before the week gets loud
Maxuod Shift keeps employee availability, overtime risk, payroll estimates, and tip distribution in the same place for small restaurant teams.