Public Holidays Policy Canada
POLICY #: 565
What is a Public Holidays policy? Why do I need it?
The Public Holiday policy communicates the guidelines regarding Ontario, Alberta and BC public holidays provided to employees, including number of public holidays, eligibility, and overtime application.
It's beneficial because it prevents employees from assuming that they're entitled to additional public holidays that may be granted by other employers or by other provinces.
Where can I find the Public Holidays policy?
The HR Toolkit's policies are not created as standalone documents. Rather, they are all included within the Employee Manual, driven by a table of contents. This provides a better employee experience for easily accessing and cross referencing all policies.
- Active HR Toolkit subscribers can find this policy in all 3 employee manual templates for Ontario, Alberta, BC, in the Legislated Leaves section, or search the Word template for "Public Holidays".
- Once logged in, you can preview and download your employee manuals HERE.
If you are not an active HR Toolkit subscriber, employee manuals and individual policies are not available for preview or download, but we invite you to view the employee manual table of contents or buy the HR Toolkit here.
What type of policy is the Public Holidays policy?
Compliance. The Public Holiday policy is governed by legislation to protect employees by mandating minimum employee entitlement and rights.
In what jurisdiction is the Public Holidays policy applicable?
This policy is applicable to provincially-regulated employers in Ontario, Alberta, and BC, where each jurisdiction has its own employment standards body overseeing the employee-employer relationship.
Importance/Legal Review
| Optional | Recommended | Critical | Comments | |
| How important is this policy? | x | If you're providing employees with no additional paid holidays , this policy is optional. | ||
| Is legal review required? | x | In most cases, this is a straightforward policy and does not require review. |
Policy Customization
| Low | Med | High | Comments | |
| Time/Effort | x | |||
| Expertise | x |
Key Decisions
Determine if your company will follow legislation or provide additional paid holidays, such as Easter Monday.
Dependencies
This is a stand alone policy without any reference to other parts of the Employee Manual.
Additional Information & Tips
Before you start customizing this policy, we recommend you research the public holiday standards for your industry to make sure you are competitive. Employment standards public holiday entitlement and its minimum entitlements may not be sufficient to attract top talent.
Resources
We've included the following link(s) in the Resources section of this policy in the Manual to make it available to your staff. If your intention is to be compliant, then pointing to the legislation website shows good faith and transparency that you're ready and willing to comply and do the right thing. It's also much easier for you to make a general statement about the policy and then provide a link to the source website. That way, you don't have to maintain the information when legislated changes (particularly minor changes) and your information will always be up-to-date.
But it's optional, and you can remove the entire 'Resources' section at the end of the topic if you'd prefer.
- Ontario: Employment Standards Act:
https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/public-holidays - Alberta: Employment Standards Act:
https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-general-holidays.aspx - BC: Employment Standards Act:
Disclaimer
This page includes general information and does not constitute legal advice. More.
Keywords
statutory holidays policy, legal holidays policy, national holidays policy, provincial holidays policy, bank holidays policy, official holidays policy, general holidays policy, Canada holidays policy