Ontario Statutory Holidays: Complete Employer Guide (2026)

If you run a restaurant, retail location, care home, or franchise in Ontario, statutory holidays are one of the easiest things to get wrong on payroll and one of the most expensive. Ontario sets nine public holidays each year, and most of your staff are entitled to either the day off with public holiday pay, or a specific mix of premium pay and substitute time when they work. Miscalculating any of it exposes you to back pay, interest, and Ministry of Labour complaints that can reach back two years. This guide gives you the confirmed 2026 holiday dates, the exact public holiday pay formula, how premium pay and substitute holidays work, who qualifies, the special rules for restaurants, hotels, and care homes, and worked examples you can take straight to a pay run.

Ontario statutory holidays 2026: the full list and dates

Ontario has nine statutory holidays in 2026: New Year's Day on Thursday, January 1; Family Day on Monday, February 16; Good Friday on Friday, April 3; Victoria Day on Monday, May 18; Canada Day on Wednesday, July 1; Labour Day on Monday, September 7; Thanksgiving Day on Monday, October 12; Christmas Day on Friday, December 25; and Boxing Day on Saturday, December 26. These nine days are set under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), which covers most provincially regulated employees in the province.

Ontario statutory holiday2026 dateNotesNew Year's DayThursday, January 1Falls on a working day for most teamsFamily DayMonday, February 16Third Monday in FebruaryGood FridayFriday, April 3Easter Sunday is April 5Victoria DayMonday, May 18Monday before May 25Canada DayWednesday, July 1Mid-week holiday in 2026Labour DayMonday, September 7First Monday in SeptemberThanksgiving DayMonday, October 12Second Monday in OctoberChristmas DayFriday, December 25Long weekend with Boxing DayBoxing DaySaturday, December 26Falls on a Saturday in 2026, see substitute rules below

The dates above follow Ontario's public holiday rules under the Employment Standards Act. The one to plan for now is Boxing Day, which lands on a Saturday in 2026. For staff who do not normally work Saturdays, that holiday triggers a substitute day off or public holiday pay rather than a paid day at the counter, and it is covered in the substitute holiday section below.

How Ontario statutory holiday pay is calculated

Ontario statutory holiday pay equals all the regular wages an employee earned, plus all the vacation pay payable to them, in the four work weeks before the work week containing the holiday, divided by 20. The same formula applies whether the employee is paid hourly, by salary, by commission, or a combination, and there is no minimum length of service: a worker hired last week can qualify.

Regular wages do not include overtime pay, vacation pay, public holiday pay, premium pay, termination pay, or severance pay. The four work weeks are based on your business's work week, not a calendar week, so count backward four full work weeks from the last day of the work week before the one the holiday falls in.

Whether you add vacation pay into the calculation depends on how you pay it. If you pay 4 percent vacation pay on every cheque, include 4 percent of the wages earned in those four work weeks (or a higher percentage if that is what the employee earns). If you pay vacation pay only when the employee takes vacation, you include it only if the employee was actually on vacation during that four week window.

Example 1: a full-time cook on fixed hours

A cook earns $24.00 per hour and works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. They worked their scheduled shifts on either side of the holiday and were not on vacation in the four weeks before it. They receive vacation pay when vacation is taken.

1. Regular wages: $24.00 x 8 hours = $192.00 per day. $192.00 x 5 days = $960.00 per week. $960.00 x 4 work weeks = $3,840.00
2. Vacation pay payable: $0.00, because the cook was not on vacation during the period
3. Public holiday pay: ($3,840.00 + $0.00) divided by 20 = $192.00

Result: the cook is entitled to $192.00 in public holiday pay.

Example 2: a part-time retail associate with vacation pay on every cheque

An associate earns $1,500.00 in regular wages over the four work weeks before the holiday and is paid 4 percent vacation pay on each cheque by written agreement.

1. Regular wages: $1,500.00
2. Vacation pay payable: $1,500.00 x 4 percent = $60.00
3. Public holiday pay: ($1,500.00 + $60.00) divided by 20 = $78.00

Result: the associate is entitled to $78.00 in public holiday pay.

Premium pay for Ontario statutory holidays worked

When a qualifying Ontario employee agrees in writing or electronically to work a statutory holiday and gives up a substitute day off, they are entitled to public holiday pay plus premium pay of 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked on the holiday. Premium pay is calculated on the employee's regular hourly rate, so a worker earning $24.00 an hour is paid $36.00 for each hour worked on the holiday, on top of their public holiday pay.

Example 3: the cook works the holiday

Take the cook from Example 1, whose public holiday pay is $192.00. They agree in writing to work 8 hours on Canada Day and to take public holiday pay plus premium pay instead of a substitute day.

1. Public holiday pay: $192.00
2. Premium pay: $24.00 x 1.5 = $36.00 per hour. $36.00 x 8 hours = $288.00
3. Total for the day: $192.00 + $288.00 = $480.00

Result: the cook earns $480.00 for working Canada Day.

One detail that catches operators out: hours paid at premium pay on a public holiday do not count toward the weekly overtime threshold. You do not pay premium pay and overtime on the same hours. For how overtime works the rest of the year, see our guide to overtime laws by province in Canada.

Substitute holidays for Ontario statutory holidays

A substitute holiday is a regular working day off, paid at public holiday pay, that replaces a statutory holiday the employee worked or that fell on a day they do not normally work. It must be scheduled for a day no later than 3 months after the public holiday, or up to 12 months after if the employee agrees electronically or in writing.

When a qualifying employee agrees to work a holiday, you choose between two structures. The first is regular wages for the hours worked plus a substitute day off paid at public holiday pay. The second, which needs the employee's written or electronic agreement, is public holiday pay plus premium pay with no substitute day. Whichever you use, if you give a substitute day you must hand the employee a written statement before the holiday that names the holiday being substituted, the date of the substitute day, and the date you gave the statement.

Boxing Day on a Saturday in 2026 is the case to get right. When a public holiday falls on a day that is not normally a working day for an employee, such as a Saturday for a Monday to Friday team, that employee is entitled to a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or public holiday pay for the holiday itself if they agree to that in writing. There is no automatic rule under the Employment Standards Act that moves Boxing Day to the next Monday. The widely seen "observed on Monday, December 28" is a substitute day arrangement that many employers and government offices choose, not a legal shift of the holiday date.

Who qualifies for Ontario statutory holiday pay: the last and first rule

To qualify for Ontario statutory holiday pay, an employee must work their entire last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday and their entire first regularly scheduled shift after it, unless they have reasonable cause for missing either. This is called the last and first rule, and it applies to full-time, part-time, permanent, and contract staff regardless of how recently they were hired.

The qualifying shifts do not have to be the calendar day immediately before and after the holiday, only the employee's last and first scheduled shifts around it. Reasonable cause means something outside the employee's control, and the employee has to be able to show it. An employee who fails the last and first rule without reasonable cause does not get public holiday pay, but if they work on the holiday they are still owed premium pay for every hour worked.

Ontario statutory holidays for restaurants, hotels, and care homes: special industry rules

Restaurants, taverns, hotels, motels, tourist resorts, hospitals, nursing homes, and continuous operations can require employees to work on a statutory holiday without their agreement, but only when the holiday falls on a day the employee would normally work and they are not on vacation. This is the main difference between a restaurant or care home and a standard office: you can schedule a holiday shift, you do not need the employee to opt in first.

When you require an employee in one of these businesses to work, you choose between paying their regular rate for the hours worked plus a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or paying public holiday pay plus premium pay for each hour worked. The choice is the employer's. This power is still subject to an employee's right to a day off for religious observance under the Ontario Human Rights Code and to anything in their employment contract.

For a care home running 7 days a week, this means a personal support worker scheduled on Christmas Day can be required to work it, and the operator decides whether to pay regular wages plus a banked substitute day, or public holiday pay plus time and a half for the hours on the floor. Either way the worker is fully compensated, and the decision should be applied consistently across the roster.

Ontario statutory holidays and retail workers' right to refuse

Most retail employees in Ontario have the right to refuse to work on a statutory holiday, even if they do not qualify for public holiday pay. If a retail employee has already agreed in writing or electronically to work the holiday, they can still decline it by giving you at least 48 hours' notice before the shift was due to start. You can read the government's retail workers rules for the full detail.

There is a 2026 change retail operators need to know. Ontario amended the Retail Business Holidays Act in the spring of 2026, and the change took effect for Victoria Day 2026. Retailers across the province can now choose to open on Family Day and Victoria Day, and the authority municipalities had to require stores to close on those two days has been removed, so the rules are now consistent province-wide. This does not change pay obligations: Family Day and Victoria Day remain public holidays under the Employment Standards Act, so eligible employees who work them still earn public holiday pay plus premium pay at 1.5 times their rate, and many retail employees keep the right to refuse the shift. Store closing rules for the other public holidays are unchanged.

What is not an Ontario statutory holiday in 2026

Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, the Civic Holiday on the first Monday in August (August 3, 2026), and Remembrance Day (November 11, 2026) are not statutory holidays under Ontario's Employment Standards Act. You can give staff any of these days off as a matter of policy or contract, but there is no legal public holiday pay or premium pay obligation attached to them.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 is a federal holiday that applies to federally regulated workplaces such as banks and airlines. It is not an Employment Standards Act public holiday for provincially regulated Ontario employers, which is the category most restaurants, retail chains, and care homes fall into. If you choose to observe it, treat it as a company day off rather than a statutory entitlement.

Managing Ontario statutory holidays across multiple locations with Workforce.com

The hard part is rarely Ontario's formula on its own, it is applying it correctly while a British Columbia location runs a different calculation and a Nova Scotia location uses a different rule again. Workforce.com is built for exactly that multi-province problem. The scheduling software flags each upcoming statutory holiday by location, so an Ontario manager sees the nine Ontario holidays while a Vancouver manager sees BC Day, without anyone memorising which holidays apply where.

The time and attendance module checks the last and first rule for every employee before a holiday is paid, which removes the most common trigger for Ministry of Labour complaints. Payroll then applies the 1/20 public holiday pay formula and the 1.5 times premium rate automatically, and tracks banked substitute days so they are taken inside the legal window. If you run sites in more than one province, see our overview of statutory holiday pay across Canada or book a demo to see the Ontario rules run against your actual roster.

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