Quebec statutory holiday pay calculator (2026)
If you were at work around it and do not work the day itself, it pays the indemnity: the four complete weeks of pay before that week, divided by 20. Work out your own figure — the calculator below runs the province's formula on your wages.
Quebec workers get eight paid holidays, and the pay for one of them is a single division: the wages from the four complete weeks of pay behind you, overtime taken out, divided by twenty. The Act respecting labour standards calls the days statutory general holidays and calls the money an indemnity — seven of the eight come from that Act, and 24 June comes from the National Holiday Act.
Work out your holiday indemnity
Quebec fixes the divisor at 20, so the wage total behind the holiday is all this needs. It runs the 1/20 branch of s. 62 — a commission earner divides by 60 over 12 complete weeks instead.
Every hour of ordinary pay in those four weeks, before deductions — with overtime pay left out.
Only if you receive tips: the indemnity is worked out on wages increased by the tips attributed or reported under the Taxation Act. Leave it at zero otherwise.
This is the indemnity for the day. If you work the holiday, the wages for the hours are paid at your ordinary rate and this figure is added on top — or replaced by a compensatory day off, at the employer's choice.
Who qualifies
These are the conditions Quebec puts on the day. They sit on the shifts around the holiday and on your time with the employer — not on how many hours you worked in the week itself.
- No qualifying periodNo 30-day rule, no 60-day rule, no minimum-employment rule of any kind exists here for these days. Entitlement runs from the first day of work, whether the job is full-time, part-time, casual or seasonal.
- Be at work the working day before and the working day afterSection 65 is the single condition: you must not have been absent from work without the employer's authorization or without valid cause on the working day preceding or the working day following the holiday.
- An authorized or justified absence costs nothingThe test removes the indemnity only where the absence was both unauthorized and without valid cause. An absence the employer allowed, or one you can account for, leaves the day intact.
- 24 June carries no attendance testSection 65 sits in the Act respecting labour standards and governs the seven days that Act lists. The National Holiday Act has no equivalent condition — its s. 7 is repealed — so the day-before, day-after rule does not reach 24 June.
Division III does not reach everyone. It leaves out employees who under a collective agreement or decree already receive paid non-working days equal to or greater in number, in addition to the National Holiday, and it leaves out senior managerial personnel, construction employees governed by chapter R-20, occasional in-home caregivers, students in an approved job-induction programme, certain athletes, and employees whose remuneration or tariff is fixed by government regulation under another Act.
The Quebec formula: one twentieth of four weeks
The formula
wages earned in the 4 complete weeks of pay preceding the week of the holiday, overtime excluded ÷ 20
- The window is the four complete weeks of pay before the week containing the holiday — not the four weeks before the holiday itself, so a holiday mid-week does not shorten it.
- Twenty is fixed. A stretch with fewer hours in it produces a smaller indemnity rather than a different calculation.
- Commission earners have their own branch of s. 62: 1/60 of the wages earned in the 12 complete weeks of pay preceding the week of the holiday.
- If you receive tips, the indemnity is worked out on wages increased by the tips attributed or reported to you under the Taxation Act.
- 24 June uses the identical formula, written into s. 4 of the National Holiday Act rather than into s. 62.
- One caution about the source: the wording here follows the consolidation in force since 28 October 2025, which does not include the amendments made by SQ 2026 c 5 and SQ 2026 c 12. Whether either of those 2026 Acts touches Division III could not be confirmed, so check a figure with the CNESST before relying on it.
Check what the base leaves out. Where a jurisdiction averages your wages, what it strips out of that average decides the day’s pay — and the answer is not the same across the country. The line below is this jurisdiction’s own.
Worked example
- Wages · 4 complete weeks of pay × 150 h × $22.00
- $3,300.00
- Overtime pay in that window
- excluded
- Divide by
- 20
- Holiday indemnity for the day
- $165.00
The 6 overtime hours in that same stretch, paid $198.00 at time and a half, stay outside the $3,300.00.
Overtime is not in the wage base
Overtime pay is excluded by the statute itself. Section 62 ends the operative clause with the words “excluding overtime”, which qualify the four-week wage base, so overtime is stripped out before the division by 20 — no inference is needed and no reading of “regular wages” is involved. The National Holiday Act repeats the phrase for 24 June. Note what the exclusion does not say: it appears only in the 1/20 branch, and the commission sentence — 1/60 of the wages earned in the 12 complete weeks before — carries no overtime qualifier. Whether the legislature meant the exclusion to reach commission earners is unclear on the face of the text, so a commission earner should confirm that point with the CNESST rather than assume it.
It is the line worth checking first: if a holiday indemnity figure looks high after a heavy week, check what went into the base it came from — and check it against this jurisdiction, not the one next door.
Quebec statutory general holiday dates in 2026 & 2027
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1 January 2026Thursday | 1 January 2027Friday |
| Good Friday or Easter Monday — the employer picks one | 3 April 2026Friday | 26 March 2027Friday |
| National Patriots' Day | 18 May 2026Monday | 24 May 2027Monday |
| National Holiday (St. John the Baptist Day) | 24 June 2026Wednesday | 24 June 2027Thursday |
| Canada Day | 1 July 2026Wednesday | 1 July 2027Thursday |
| Labour Day | 7 September 2026Monday | 6 September 2027Monday |
| Thanksgiving | 12 October 2026Monday | 11 October 2027Monday |
| Christmas Day | 25 December 2026Fridaynext | 25 December 2027Saturday |
Not a statutory general holiday in Quebec: Remembrance Day; Boxing Day
One date falls on a weekend in 2026 and 2027: Christmas Day, Saturday 25 December 2027. Quebec does not shift the date. Where a statutory general holiday falls during your annual leave or on a day that does not coincide with your regular work schedule, s. 64 leaves the employer a choice: pay the indemnity, or grant a compensatory day off, which must be taken within the three weeks before or after the holiday unless a collective agreement or decree allows longer. 24 June is separate again — where it is not a regular working day for you, the National Holiday Act requires a compensatory holiday equivalent to a regular day of work, and for employees paid by the hour, on production or on another basis, either that day or the indemnity.
- The Easter entry is one day, not a pair. Section 60 grants Good Friday or Easter Monday at the option of the employer, so the table shows Good Friday, 3 April 2026, and an employer that observes Easter Monday instead gives 6 April 2026. A calendar that pays both is not following the section.
- Seven of those days are listed in the Act respecting labour standards. The eighth, 24 June, is granted by a separate statute, the National Holiday Act, which is why it carries its own rules further down this page.
- National Patriots' Day is defined as the Monday preceding 25 May. In 2026 the 25th is itself a Monday, so the holiday is 18 May — a week earlier than a calendar that snaps to the last Monday on or before 25 May would put it.
- Canada Day moves to 2 July only where 1 July falls on a Sunday. In 2026 it is a Wednesday, so the holiday stays on 1 July.
- Those eight are what the two statutes grant. A day your employer closes for outside them — 26 December, for instance — comes from a policy or a contract, and the terms come from there rather than from the formula on this page.
If you work the holiday
Your ordinary rate for the hours — there is no premium
Quebec sets no time-and-a-half statutory holiday rate. Section 63 pays the wages for the work done, so eight hours at $22.00 are $176.00, the same as any other day.
Plus the indemnity, or a day off instead
In addition to those wages, the employer pays the s. 62 indemnity or grants one compensatory day off — the choice is the employer's. Where the indemnity is paid, the example day comes to $176.00 plus $165.00: $341.00. A compensatory day must be taken within the three weeks before or after the holiday, unless a collective agreement or decree allows a longer period.
24 June runs on a tighter deadline
The National Holiday Act mirrors s. 63 for 24 June, with one difference that matters if you take the day off instead of the money: the compensatory day must be taken on the working day immediately preceding or following 24 June, not within three weeks of it.
Whether hours worked on a holiday also count toward the week’s overtime threshold is a separate question with a separate answer in each province. Check it against the overtime rules for Quebec rather than assuming it either way.
Holiday indemnity in Quebec
How much holiday indemnity does Quebec owe for one holiday?
Take the wages earned in the four complete weeks of pay before the week the holiday falls in, leave overtime pay out of that total, and divide by 20. A four-week total of $3,300.00 gives an indemnity of $165.00 for the day. The divisor is fixed, so fewer hours in the window mean a smaller figure rather than a different formula.
Does overtime pay count toward holiday indemnity in Quebec?
Not in the ordinary case. Section 62 of the Act respecting labour standards ends the sentence with the words “excluding overtime”, so overtime pay comes out of the four-week total before the division by 20, and the National Holiday Act carries the same phrase for 24 June. Those words appear only in the 1/20 branch: the commission sentence sets 1/60 of the wages earned in the 12 complete weeks before, with no overtime qualifier, and whether the exclusion is meant to reach commission earners is genuinely unclear on the face of the text. Confirm that case with the CNESST rather than assuming it either way.
How long do I have to work before Quebec pays me for a holiday?
There is no waiting period at all. The Act respecting labour standards sets no 30-day, 60-day or any other minimum-employment rule for these days, so the entitlement runs from the first day of work. The one condition, in s. 65, is that you were not absent without the employer's authorization and without valid cause on the working day before or the working day after the holiday.
What am I paid for working a statutory general holiday in Quebec?
Quebec has no time-and-a-half holiday rate. Section 63 pays the wages for the work done, and on top of that either the s. 62 indemnity or a compensatory day off, at the employer's choice; a compensatory day must be taken within the three weeks before or after the holiday unless a collective agreement or decree allows longer. An eight-hour shift at $22.00 is $176.00 for the hours plus $165.00 of indemnity in the example above: $341.00. For 24 June the compensatory day has to fall on the working day immediately before or after the holiday.
What if the holiday lands on my day off or during my vacation?
Section 64 covers both: where the holiday falls during your annual leave or does not coincide with your regular work schedule, the employer either pays the indemnity or grants a compensatory day off. 24 June has its own rule — where it is not a regular working day for you, the National Holiday Act requires a compensatory holiday equivalent to a regular day of work, and for employees paid by the hour, on production or on another basis, either that day or the indemnity.
Do I get Good Friday or Easter Monday in Quebec?
One of the two, and the employer picks which. Section 60 grants “Good Friday or Easter Monday, at the option of the employer”, so a year never carries both. In 2026 that is Friday 3 April or Monday 6 April, and only the day your employer observes is paid under these rules.
Check the rest of the pay period
A holiday sits inside a week that has its own rules — Quebec pays overtime after 40h in a week with no daily threshold. Overtally runs that side of the arithmetic, hour by hour, and shows every line behind the total.
Overtally for iPhone — coming soonHoliday pay in other provinces and territories
sources
- Act respecting labour standards, CQLR c N-1.1 — ss. 59.1–65 (indemnity at s. 62)
- National Holiday Act, CQLR c F-1.1 — ss. 1–6
- Act respecting labour standards, s. 52
Every figure on this page traces to the statute or agency page above. If one is out of date, tell us — corrections ship the same week.
Overtally computes what you should be paid before taxes. It does not calculate take-home pay, withholding or deductions, and it is not legal advice — it is your own record and your own estimate.