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ARTICLE · 23 MAY 2013

Top 5 Public Holiday Questions

McCarthy Tétrault
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5 top questions related to the public holidays under the Employment Standards Act.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Daniel Pugen
Daniel Pugen
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The May long weekend is before us. The weather is great, the LCBO averted a labour disruption, and I suspect that traffic may be worse than usual getting out of the city. In honour of the long weekend, I have set out below the top 5 questions I am asked about public holidays under the Employment Standards Act ("ESA"):

1. Do we have to provide our staff with the civic holiday (first Monday in August)?

Although many employers provide their staff with the civic holiday, it is not required under the ESA. The required public holidays under the ESA are: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.

2. When staff are off on the public holiday, we just pay them a day's pay, right?

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