Ontario to review public holiday rules

The Ontario government will review the public holiday system as part of the province's ongoing response to its Changing Workplaces Review, according to Labour Minister Kevin Flynn.

Public holiday rules are the source of the most complaints under the Employee Standards Act and need to be simplified, he said.

“This review of the public holiday pay section of the Employment Standards Act is part of our overall commitment to address the realities of the modern workplace and create a fair society,” said Flynn.

The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 amended the public holiday pay formula, he said. On May 7, the government reinstated the public holiday pay formula that applied prior to the act’s passage.

The regulation states that an employee’s public holiday pay for a given public holiday shall be equal to the total amount of regular wages earned, and vacation pay payable to the employee in the four workweeks before the workweek in which the public holiday occurred, divided by 20.

The ruling comes into effect July 1.