Is New Year's Day a statutory holiday in Canada?

It depends on where you work and on whether the day is ordinarily a working day for you. Where it is not, Ontario's rule is a substitute day, not a shift to the next Monday: s. 29(1) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 requires the employer to give another day that would ordinarily be a working day, paid at public holiday pay, with a written statement before the holiday under s. 29(1.1) and the day falling within three months, or twelve by agreement, under s. 29(2). Under s. 29(3) the two of you can instead agree that the employer just pays public holiday pay for 1 January. British Columbia still pays a qualifying employee an average day's pay, and an employer and an employee or union can agree to substitute another day, which then carries the statutory holiday rules. Alberta pays no average daily wage for a day you do not normally work and do not work, and pays the hours at 1.5× if you do work it (s. 30); on an irregular schedule it counts as a normal work day if you worked that day of the week in at least 5 of the 9 weeks before the week of the holiday (s. 27(2)). Quebec does not shift the date: under s. 64 the employer either pays the indemnity or grants a compensatory day off within the three weeks before or after, unless a collective agreement or decree allows longer. Saskatchewan owes its 5% whether or not you normally work the day. Manitoba requires a day off with holiday pay on a normal workday before your next annual vacation. New Brunswick (s. 18(4)) lets the employer agree with you to pay your regular wages for the holiday, or designate another working day as a substitute. Nova Scotia (s. 38) requires a holiday with pay on the working day immediately following, on the day immediately following your annual vacation, or on another day you agree. Prince Edward Island owes you a day off with pay instead, on the next work day after the holiday or after your annual vacation, or on a day you agree before your next annual vacation. Newfoundland and Labrador has no weekend rule and nothing moves the holiday to the nearest Monday; under s. 16, if you are not required to work the day, the employer cannot require you to work the next working day, or another day you agree on, and that day is paid as if it were the holiday. Yukon (s. 29(2)) gives the holiday with pay on the working day immediately following. The Northwest Territories pays a qualifying employee the holiday whether or not it falls on a day of work (s. 22(1)) and has no rule moving it to Monday. Nunavut (s. 25(2)) lets the employer either pay the holiday pay or give a substituted paid holiday on the same terms.

Yes, in all three, and in the other ten provinces and territories as well. New Year's Day is one of Ontario's nine public holidays, one of Alberta's nine general holidays and one of British Columbia's eleven statutory holidays. Where they part is the pay: Ontario divides the regular wages and vacation pay of the four work weeks before the holiday week by 20, British Columbia divides the total wages of the 30 calendar days before by the days you worked in them, and Alberta, for a day you normally work, divides the wages of the four weeks before by the days you worked.

No. 31 December is on none of the thirteen provincial and territorial lists, and it is not among the Canada Labour Code's ten general holidays. An employer can still close or give the day off, and then the policy, contract or collective agreement sets the pay, not the statutory formula.

Yes, if you qualify, and the tests differ by province. Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island set no waiting period, and neither does the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated employees. British Columbia asks for 30 calendar days of employment and work or wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday. Alberta asks for 30 workdays with the same employer in the previous 12 months. New Brunswick withholds the pay if you have been with the employer fewer than 90 days in the previous 12 months. Nova Scotia asks for pay on at least 15 of the 30 calendar days before. Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon withhold it if the day falls in your first 30 days of employment, and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut if you worked fewer than 30 days for the employer in the previous 12 months. Beyond that, everywhere except British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, missing your last scheduled shift before the holiday or your first after it can cost you the day, unless the statute's exception applies (the employer's consent, being told not to come in, or reasonable, valid or just cause, depending on the statute). Prince Edward Island takes the pay only if you miss both.

Mostly no. Where a premium applies it is time and a half: Ontario (by written agreement, on top of public holiday pay), Alberta, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island pay 1.5×, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut pay not less than that, and federally regulated employees get time and a half in addition to holiday pay. Two places reach double: British Columbia pays 2× for hours past 12 in the day, and Newfoundland and Labrador lets you choose twice the wages you would earn on a normal working day instead of holiday pay. Quebec sets no premium at all: ordinary wages for the hours, plus either the indemnity or a compensatory day off. A contract or collective agreement can pay more than the statute.

It depends on the formula. Christmas Day falls a week earlier, so it sits inside the look-back window of the methods that average recent wages, and the formulas that address the point split. Ontario leaves it out: only regular wages go into the four-week base, and public holiday pay is not regular wages. British Columbia counts it: the total wages of the 30-day window include statutory holiday pay and paid vacation falling inside it. Alberta's four weeks of wages include general holiday pay, and Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island add holiday pay received inside the 28 days back into the base. A method that pays a normal day, such as Nova Scotia's, has no look-back for it to enter.

Christmas Day, province by province →