judyhaiven

Will you get paid for the holidays?

For anyone reading this who is not represented by a union, this post is for you.

In Nova Scotia, and all provinces and territories in Canada, plus those working in the federal sector (such as in banking or telecommunications), Xmas day is a paid statutory holiday.  But you only get paid for the day off if

  1. your employer ‘allows’ you to work the day before the 25th and the next working day. 
  2. your employer also must have ‘allowed’ you to work for 15 of the last 30 days.  

If you comply with both conditions above, you will get paid for the holiday on Christmas Day. 

Not so much for Boxing Day. 

Annie Pootoogook, 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴), 2006, coloured pencil and felt-tip pen on paper. Pootoogook was only age 47 when her body was discovered in Ottawa’s Rideau River, in September 2016. An Inuk artist originally from Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Pootoogook had been living in Ottawa.

Boxing Day

While Boxing Day is a statutory holiday in Ontario and in the federal sector, it is merely a Retail Closing day in NS.  Most shops, grocery stores, malls, warehouses, services, offices, restaurants and factories will be closed; many workers will not get paid for the day off. If you work at a café, or hotel, or gas station (businesses which are allowed to remain open) on Boxing Day, you will earn a regular day’s pay —with no premium pay. 

Lukie Airut Celebration (2013) whalebone, caribou antler, white marble, baleen and soapstone. Airut is from Iglulik, NU.

Will you be paid for New Year’s Day?

New Year’s Day is a public holiday in NS and a Store Closing day.  Again, if you follow the rules at the top of this article, you should get paid for the day off.     

If you worked either Christmas Day or have to work New Year’s Day (or both) – and if you qualify for holiday pay (see above), you will also earn premium pay for working on the holiday.  If, for example, you have to work on New Year’s Day for seven hours, and you normally earn $20 an hour, your holiday pay would be $140.  Your premium pay for working that day is $210.00 (one and a half times your regular pay) which is added to your holiday pay of $140 and totals $350.00 for the day.  Note the difference between holiday pay of only $140, versus premium pay of $210.  The two sums are added together if you have to work on a public holiday and you qualify to receive the holiday and the premium pay.

Janet Kigusiuq, Blue Fish (1999). Kigusiuq is Inuk from Baker Lake, NU.

Technically your workplace  (unless it’s a restaurant, a hotel, or a gas bar and some other places) must be closed on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.  Stores, malls, and most businesses in NS will open again on Sat, 27 Dec., and Fri. 2 Jan.

If your workplace was closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, you earn holiday pay — a paid day off – as long as you meet the two conditions noted earlier:  you must have worked for pay for the last 15 out of 30 days, and you must have worked your last scheduled shift just before the day off, and your first scheduled shift right after the holiday.

Finally, the only way around these miserly rules, is to join a trade union.  Most unions have negotiated better holidays, conditions and pay than what is provided by Nova Scotia Labour Standards. Unions also try to negotiate more than the measly six public holidays a year specified by NS Labour Standards. 

Norval Morrisseau (1932–2007), Shaman and Disciples, 1979. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1979 © Estate of Norval Morrisseau. Morrisseau’s paintings have been illicitly copied and reproduced with hundreds if not thousands of fakes on people’s walls. This two-hour doc about the trade in fake Morrisseaus is startling, fascinating and funny — There Are No Fakes; watch it free here.

Leave a comment