Canada Labour Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2)

Marginal note:Postponement

• 187.2 (1) Despite paragraph 185(a) or any term or condition of employment, an employee may postpone their vacation until after the day on which a leave of absence taken under Division VII or VIII or section 247.5, or an absence due to a reason referred to in subsection 239(1) or 239.1(1), ends.

• Marginal note:Notice to employer

  (2) An employee who intends to postpone their vacation shall, as soon as possible, provide the employer with prior written notice of the postponement.

Marginal note:Termination of employment during year

188 When an employee ceases to be employed, the employer shall pay to the employee within 30 days after the day on which the employee ceases to be employed

• (a) any vacation pay then owing by the employer to the employee under this Division in respect of any prior completed year of employment; and

• (b) the applicable percentage, under section 184.01, of the wages of the employee during any part of the completed portion of their year of employment in respect of which vacation pay has not been paid to them.

Marginal note:Transfer

• 189 (1) Despite the lease or transfer of a work, undertaking or business, or any part of a work, undertaking or business, from one employer to another employer by sale, merger or otherwise, the employment of the employee, before and after the lease or transfer, who is employed in or in connection with the operation of that work, undertaking or business, is, for the purposes of this Division, deemed to be continuous with one employer if the work, undertaking or business

  • (a) is a federal work, undertaking or business; or

  • (b) becomes a federal work, undertaking or business due to the lease or transfer.

• Marginal note:Retendering

  (1.1) If, due to a contract being awarded through a retendering process, a second employer becomes responsible for carrying out any particular federal work, undertaking or business, or part of one, that was previously carried out by a first employer, an employee who is employed in or in connection with the its operation before and after the retendering, is, for the purposes of this Division, deemed to be continuously employed with one employer.

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (1.2) Subsections (1) and (1.1) do not apply if the employee’s first day of employment by the second employer is more than 13 weeks after the day that is the earlier of

  • (a) the employee’s last day of employment by the first employer; and

  • (b) the day on which the federal work, undertaking or business is transferred or the first day the second employer carries out the federal work, undertaking or business, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Period of continuous employment

  (1.3) For greater certainty, if an employer’s work, undertaking or business becomes a federal work, undertaking or business due to a change in its activities, for the purposes of this Division, an employee’s period of continuous employment by the employer includes any period in which the work, undertaking or business in or in connection with the operation of which the employee is employed was not a federal work, undertaking or business.

• Marginal note:Calculation of period of employment

  (1.4) If subsection (1) or (1.1) applies in respect of an employee, any period between their employment by the first employer and their employment by the second employer is not included in the calculation of their period of continuous employment.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (1.5) For the purposes of an employee’s employment by the second employer, this section does not apply in respect of the calculation of the employee’s entitlement under section 230 if the first employer complied with that section in respect of their employment by that employer.

• Marginal note:Exception — severance pay

  (1.6) For the purposes of an employee’s employment by the second employer, this section does not apply in respect of the calculation of their entitlement to severance pay under section 235 if the first employer paid them severance pay in respect of their employment by that employer.

• Marginal note:Inclusion

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a federal work, undertaking or business includes

  • (a) any portion of the federal public administration specified from time to time in Schedule I, IV or V to the Financial Administration Act that is deleted from one of those Schedules and that is established as or becomes a part of a corporation or any federal work, undertaking or business to which this Part applies; or

  • (b) a portion of the federal public administration included in a portion of the federal public administration so specified in one of those Schedules that is severed from the portion in which it was included and that is established as or becomes a part of such a corporation or federal work, undertaking or business.

Marginal note:Regulations in relation to annual vacations

190 The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Division and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

• (a) defining the circumstances and conditions under which the rights of an employee under this Division may be waived or the enjoyment thereof postponed;

• (b) prescribing the notices to be given to employees of the times when vacations may be taken;

• (c) prescribing the time when vacation pay shall be paid;

• (d) defining the absences from employment that shall be deemed not to have interrupted continuity of employment;

• (e) respecting the determination by the employer of a year of employment in relation to any industrial establishment;

• (f) for the calculation and determination of vacation and vacation pay in the case of seasonal or temporary employees or in other suitable cases;

• (g) providing for the granting of vacation or the payment of vacation pay in the event of temporary cessation of employment; and

• (h) providing for the application of this Division where, owing to illness or other unavoidable absence, an employee has been absent from his employment.

DIVISION VGeneral Holidays

Marginal note:Definitions

191 The following definitions apply in this Division.

employed in a continuous operation

employed in a continuous operation means, in respect of an employee, employment in

• (a) any industrial establishment in which, in each seven-day period, operations once begun normally continue without cessation until the completion of the regularly scheduled operations for that period;

• (b) any operations or services concerned with the running of trains, planes, ships, trucks or other vehicles, whether in scheduled or non-scheduled operations;

• (c) any telephone, radio, television, telegraph or other communication or broadcasting operations or services; or

• (d) any operation or service normally carried on without regard to Sundays or general holidays. (occupé à un travail ininterrompu)

holiday pay

holiday pay means pay calculated in accordance with section 196. (indemnité de congé)

holiday with pay

holiday with pay means a holiday for which an employee is entitled to holiday pay. (congé payé)

Marginal note:Entitlement to holidays

192 Except as otherwise provided by this Division, every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a holiday with pay on each of the general holidays falling within any period of his employment.

Marginal note:General holiday falling on day off

• 193 (1) Except as otherwise provided by this Division and subject to subsection (2), when a general holiday falls on a day that is a non-working day for an employee, the employee is entitled to and shall be granted a holiday with pay at some other time, which may be by way of addition to his annual vacation or granted as a holiday with pay at a time convenient to both the employee and the employer.

• Marginal note:Alternative day for holiday falling on non-working Saturday or Sunday

  (2) Except as otherwise provided by this Division, when New Year’s Day, Canada Day, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a Sunday or Saturday that is a non-working day, the employee is entitled to and shall be granted a holiday with pay on the working day immediately preceding or following the general holiday.

Marginal note:Exemption under collective agreement

194 Section 193 does not apply in respect of any employees who are employed under the terms of a collective agreement that entitles those employees to at least nine holidays with pay, exclusive of any annual vacation, in each year.

Marginal note:Substitution — employees subject to collective agreement

• 195 (1) An employer may, in respect of one or more employees subject to a collective agreement, substitute any other day for a general holiday if the substitution is agreed to in writing by the employer and the trade union, and the substituted day shall, for that employee or those employees, be deemed to be a general holiday for the purposes of this Part.

• Marginal note:Substitution — employees not subject to collective agreement

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), an employer may, in respect of one or more employees not subject to a collective agreement, substitute any other day for a general holiday and the substituted day shall, for that employee or those employees, be deemed to be a general holiday for the purposes of this Part, if the substitution has been approved

  • (a) in the case of a substitution that affects one employee, by that employee in writing; or

  • (b) in the case of a substitution that affects more than one employee, by at least 70% of the affected employees.

• Marginal note:Posting of notice

  (3) If any other day is to be substituted for a general holiday under subsection (2), the employer shall post a notice of the substitution in readily accessible places where it is likely to be seen by the affected employees, for at least 30 days before the substitution takes effect.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4) Subsection (3) does not apply to a substitution in respect of one employee following a request made under subsection 177.1(1).

Marginal note:Voting, duration

195.1 Sections 172.1 and 172.2 apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of the substitution of a general holiday pursuant to this Division.

Marginal note:Holiday pay

• 196 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), an employer shall, for each general holiday, pay an employee holiday pay equal to at least one twentieth of the wages, excluding overtime pay, that the employee earned with the employer in the four-week period immediately preceding the week in which the general holiday occurs.

• Marginal note:Employees on commission

  (2) An employee whose wages are paid in whole or in part on a commission basis and who has completed at least 12 weeks of continuous employment with an employer shall, for each general holiday, be paid holiday pay equal to at least one sixtieth of the wages, excluding overtime pay, that they earned in the 12-week period immediately preceding the week in which the general holiday occurs.

• (3) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 458]

• Marginal note:Continuous operation employee not reporting for work

  (4) An employee who is employed in a continuous operation is not entitled to holiday pay for a general holiday

  • (a) on which they do not report for work after having been called to work on that day; or

  • (b) for which they make themselves unavailable to work when the conditions of employment in the industrial establishment in which they are employed

    • (i) require them to be available, or

    • (ii) allow them to make themselves unavailable.

• (5) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 458]

Marginal note:Additional pay for holiday work

• 197 (1) An employee who is required to work on a day on which they are entitled to holiday pay shall be paid, in addition to the holiday pay for that day, wages at a rate equal to at least one and one-half times their regular rate of wages for the time that they work on that day.

• Marginal note:Employment in continuous operation

  (2) An employee employed in a continuous operation who is required to work on a day on which they are entitled to holiday pay shall

  • (a) be paid in accordance with subsection (1);

  • (b) be given a holiday with pay at some other time, either by adding it to their annual vacation or by granting it at a time convenient to both the employee and the employer; or

  • (c) be paid holiday pay for the first day on which they do not work after that day, if a collective agreement that is binding on the employer and the employee so provides.

• (3) [Repealed, 2018, c. 27, s. 459]