As a business executive you probably know that Monday, May 23rd 2016 is Victoria Day or by one of its commonly referred to names that include; “May two-four,” (reference to a 24-bottle case of beer) “the May 24 long weekend,” and “May long weekend.” Some have also deemed it as the official start of summer, hence; the fireworks in many parts of the country. And, as a business executive, you probably, also know, that this day is a federally and provincially regulated statutory holiday, which means, employees in Canada receive a day off, a day off with pay or compensation in lieu of time off.
If your organization has employees working on that day it’s important to familiarize yourself with these guidelines before you ask employees to come in to work. The Ontario Ministry of Labour gives a brief description on its website and also has a calculator that employers can use to determine how to allocated statutory holiday pay to its employees. The information, reads, in part;
“Generally, employees who qualify are entitled to take public holidays off work and be paid public holiday pay. Some employees are exempt from public holidays while others work in industries with special rules, which can include requiring an employee to work on a public holiday. This calculator provides the calculation for the 9 public holidays. The calculator does not provide the calculation for public holiday pay for a substitute holiday. An employee who qualifies is entitled to take a substitute holiday if the public holiday falls on a non–working day, during the employees’ vacation or when the employee agrees in writing, or is required, to work on a public holiday.”
Now can you imagine a very busy HR or payroll practitioner manually calculating holiday pay for a workforce of 100 plus employees and then keying it into a spreadsheet and then your payroll software? Manually keying employee stat pay or hours in a spreadsheet is bound to give practitioners headaches and will likely make them yearn for that “May two-four case of beer.” Instead why not use a time and attendance solution that will automatically pay employees the statutory holiday based on provincial, federal and your company’s own work rule policies. That way, you have met your obligation as a company, are not paying someone overtime, to manually key in employee data and now everyone can enjoy Victoria Day and the fireworks that comes with it. And, that’s a win-win for all.
Want to know how to calculate employees holiday using an ATS Time and Attendance Solution? Call us at 866.294.2467 or go to our website and download a demonstration. You can also register for one our monthly webinars or download a brochure.
