If you are a restaurant owner looking to learn about Saskatchewan stat holidays in 2024, including the question of what to pay your staff - you have come to the right place!
Different provinces have different statutory holiday rules, in Saskatchewan, everyone is eligible for general holiday pay. Yay!
Though employee eligibility has remained the same, the method of Saskatchewan's statutory holiday calculations may have been changed since you last checked. Below, you'll find everything you need to know about Saskatchewan's stat holidays for 2024, including current rules, and holidays for the year.
Quick recap - a public holiday or sometimes called statutory holidays, stat days, are a variety of nationalistic or religious, cultural holidays that are legislated in Canada at the federal or provincial level. What does that all mean?
As an employer, especially a restaurant employer - you need to know what counts as a stat holiday, how they are treated differently in each province in Canada, which days are considered stat holidays and how the pay is calculated. Read on to find out everything you need to know about statutory holidays in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan observes ten statutory holidays throughout the year where employees are eligible to be off work with statutory holiday pay or work with statutory holiday pay or time off in lieu. Read on to find out the ins and outs of the statutory holidays, how to calculate employee holiday pay and other rules you might not be aware of.
Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not stat holidays recognized in Saskatchewan.
*If Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the statutory holiday. It gets “bumped” to July 2nd, but this doesn’t happen again until July 2029, so you’ve got time.
Yes, statutory holidays (or “stat holidays”) are defined in Saskatchewan's Employment Standards Code as “general holidays”. The province of course has its own guidelines when it comes to what employees are eligible, but as for the terms general holidays and statutory holidays - in Saskatchewan, they are technically interchangeable.
Although Family Day is not a national statutory holiday, it is only observed in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the third Monday of February. In three other provinces, the third Monday of February is still a statutory holiday, called by a different name. Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and Islander Day in Prince Edward Island.
Therefore the answer is yes, Family day is a Stat Holiday in Saskatchewan. In 2024, Family Day falls on Monday, February 19th.
National Truth and Reconciliation Day is a national holiday in Canada, however Saskatchewan does not recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a Provincial stat holiday. The Government of Saskatchewan recently proclaimed September 30 as Truth and Reconciliation Day for the province. However, that proclamation only recognizes the day and does not establish it as a provincial holiday. That being said, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a stat holiday for all federal employees.
All employees get paid for the ten statutory holidays in Saskatchewan regardless of how they are paid or what hours they work.
Calculating stat pay for our employees is a necessary and legal part of business but calculating it accurately makes your place a great place to work. Read our article here about other ways managing human capital helps small business owners retain and elevate great employees.
Most employees receive 5% of their gross wages for holiday pay in the 4 week period preceding the holiday. Public holiday pay would be calculated by adding up the wages earned in the past 4 weeks prior to the holiday including vacation pay but not overtime and calculating 5% of that.
Here is an example:
You gotta follow the rules. That means each employee that qualifies for stat holiday pay, you must pay them on time and accurately.
They sure do! All full time and part time hourly employees are eligible to receive stat pay. Even new employees who have not yet worked a full 4 weeks receive holiday pay. Just calculate the number of weeks wages they have worked and calculate 5% of the wages to date.
In addition to Saskatchewan stat holiday pay, employees who work on the day of the statutory holiday, are also entitled to premium pay. This is calculated at one and a half times the regular wage x the number of hours they worked. Regular hourly wage x 1.5 = Premium pay.
Last pay period, Jane is paid $12/hour and works four 8 hour shifts each week. She also works an 8 hour shift on a stat holiday. She is eligible for both regular and premium stat pay.
To calculate her total stat pay:
Can you imagine how much time you would save if you could automate your holiday pay calculations? Well you can.
Push Operations has created smart software that integrates with your staffing back end, to automatically calculate stat holiday pay while scheduling, and paying staff. Payroll is done, and so are holiday pay calculations at the click of a button.
For more information on automating Saskatchewan statutory holiday calculations connect with a helpful team member at Push today.
This document is provided by Push Operations for information purposes only. This is not an official or legal document and should not be taken as legal advice. Push Operations does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, please check with the proper governing authority for Saskatchewan stat holidays 2024.
“In the labor numbers, we were reporting about a $300 to $400 difference than what we were getting through Push!”
-Tara Hardie, ZZA Hospitality Group, 16 locations
