The holiday season is approaching, and many employees will be
taking well-earned vacation. It is a good time for a refresher on
statutory vacation requirements under the British Columbia Employment
Standards Act (the
"Act").
British Columbia employers must give employees who are subject
to the Act both vacation time off of work and vacation
pay.
Vacation Time
Employers are required by the Act to give employees an
annual vacation of at least 2 weeks after the employee has worked
12 consecutive months and at least 3 weeks after the employee has
worked 5 consecutive years.
Under the Act, vacation entitlement accrues in the year
before the year in which the employee is entitled to take
the vacation (note that the basis for calculating a year is the
employee's start date, unless the employer elects to use a
common date for calculating annual vacation entitlement which does
not result in a reduction of the employee's vacation or
vacation pay entitlement). In other
