Please note: The following questions and answers relate to the general Labour Standards in Manitoba. Some Collective Agreements outline additional days not included in these basic standards. Check your collective agreement to see if there are additional days considered a holiday by your employer and the rules to qualify for these days.
Q.What are the general holidays in Manitoba?
A.There are eight general holidays throughout the year:
New Year's Day
Louis Riel Day (3rd Monday in February)
Good Friday
Victoria Day
Canada Day
Labour Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
Most employees are paid general holiday pay for these days whether they work or not.
Q.Are Easter, the August Civic Holiday, Remembrance Day and Boxing Day holidays?
A.Easter Sunday, the August Civic holiday, and Boxing Day are not general holidays. Employees who do not work those days do not have to be paid.
Although Remembrance Day is not a general holiday, there are restrictions for operating businesses and special requirements for paying employees who work that day. See further information below.
Q.How is general holiday pay calculated?
A.General holiday pay is five percent of an employee’s total wages in the four-week period immediately before the holiday. Overtime should not be included in this calculation.
For a part-time employee, this amounts to a percentage of his/her regular day of pay. For example: a part-time employee may work about 25 hours each week at $10 per hour, but his/her schedule is different each day. In the four weeks before the holiday, he/she earned $1,000. General holiday pay is $1,000 times five per cent, or $50.
For an employee that works the same number of hours, every day, five days a week, the five per cent calculation will equal his/her regular day of pay. For example if an employee worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at $10 per hour, for the previous 28 days, 5% would equal $1600 times five per cent, or $80 for the general holiday.
Q.Do all employees receive general holiday pay?
A.All employees receive general holiday pay unless they are absent from work on a general holiday that is normally a workday and they are expected to work; or they are absent from work, without permission, on their last scheduled workday before the holiday or their first scheduled workday after the holiday, unless they are absent because they are ill.
Q.What if employees work on the general holiday?
A.Employees who work on a general holiday are normally entitled to 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for the hours worked. In addition they also receive their general holiday pay.
What if employment ends in the four weeks before a general holiday?
If employees end the employment before a general holiday there is no entitlement to general holiday pay for that holiday.
If employers end the employment before a general holiday, employees are entitled to general holiday pay of five per cent of total wages, excluding overtime wages but including wages in lieu of notice, for the four-week period immediately before the holiday. The general holiday pay must be paid with the last wages, no later than 10 days after the employment ended.
Q.Can retail stores be open on General Holidays?
A.In communities with a Sunday and Holiday shopping by-law retail stores can be open Sunday shopping hours on Louis Riel Day, Victoria Day and Thanksgiving Day.
Most retail businesses cannot be open on New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Canada Day, Labour Day or Christmas Day.
Remembrance Day is not a holiday. Retail stores cannot be open between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Remembrance Day. More information is available on the Remembrance Day page.
Q.Who is allowed to work on Remembrance Day?
A.Most industries in Manitoba are not allowed to operate on November 11. Exceptions to this are hospital employees, hotel and restaurant employees, police, firefighters, security officers, power engineers, janitors, child care, home care and domestic workers, workers who do emergency repairs, workers who supply heat, gas, light, electrical services or water, workers who transport goods or passengers on railways, aircrafts, motor vehicles (including vehicle rental agencies), workers caring for perishable products or live animals (including animal hospitals), workers in dairy or milk processing plants, bakery workers (only
employees in continuous operation businesses, not a retail business), workers in meat packing plants (some restrictions apply), employees in registered brokerage houses who do business for clients on stock exchanges outside Manitoba, workers conducting commemorative or religious services, employees at newspapers, telecommunication carriers, television or radio stations and cable companies, workers in the farming industry.
Q.Are restaurants and hotels allowed to be open on Remembrance Day?
A.Yes, restaurants and hotels are allowed to be open on Remembrance Day. A restaurant includes street vendors, kiosks, coffee shops, patios and indoor restaurants. This type of business is not restricted on Remembrance Day.
Q.Are retail stores and services allowed to be open?
A.Retail businesses may operate on Remembrance Day but cannot be open between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Q.Are employees who do not work on Remembrance Day entitled to be paid?
A.No, while it is a common practice for employers to pay employees who do not work on Remembrance Day, they are not required to.
Q.When employees work on Remembrance Day what are they paid?
A.Although Remembrance Day is not a general holiday, the calculation to pay an employee who works on Remembrance Day is the same as for general holidays. Employees who work must be paid 1 1/2 times their regular wage for all hours worked, plus 5% of their earnings in the 28 days before Remembrance Day.
Q.Is there a minimum employees must be paid for working on Remembrance Day?
A.Employees who work are entitled to be paid for at least half of a regular work day, at 1-1/2 times their wages. For example, employees who normally work an eight-hour day, but work two hours on Remembrance Day, would be paid four hours at 1 1/2 times their wage, plus a regular day of pay (eight hours).
Q.Are employees in all industries paid 1 1/2 times their wages for hours worked on Remembrance Day?
A.When employees work on Remembrance Day their pay must be calculated in the same way as on a general holiday. In some industries such as gas stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, places of amusement, continuously operating plants, seasonal industries (excluding construction) and domestic service can receive another day off with pay instead of 1 ½ times the wages earned that day.
Q.Can employers substitute another day for Remembrance Day?
A.No, Remembrance Day is November 11 and the rules apply strictly for that day. If employers wish to treat Remembrance Day as a General Holiday and provide an additional day off they can, but they are not required to do so.
Source: MFL