BC Statutory Holidays (2026): The 11 Holidays, Who Qualifies and How Stat Pay Works

British Columbia has eleven statutory holidays, more than most provinces, and its holiday pay rules work differently from Ontario's or Alberta's. Eligibility depends on a 30-day test rather than on working the shifts either side of the holiday. Pay is an "average day's pay" worked out from the previous 30 calendar days, and anyone who works the holiday gets premium pay on top. This guide is for B.C. employers, payroll staff and employees in 2026. It lists the holidays with dates for 2026 and 2027, explains who qualifies, shows how to calculate stat pay step by step, and works through examples in Canadian dollars.

Quick answer

B.C. has 11 statutory holidays, including the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September. An employee qualifies after 30 calendar days of employment if they worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 calendar days before the holiday. They get an average day's pay — wages from the last 30 days divided by days worked — and if they work the holiday, time-and-a-half on top (double time after 12 hours).

• Not statutory holidays in B.C.: Easter Monday and Boxing Day

• Overtime pay is left out of the average day's pay; vacation pay and earlier stat pay go in

• Holiday on a day off: the average day's pay is still owed, no substitute day needed

• Employees who don't qualify are paid only their regular rate if they work the holiday

• Another day can be substituted only by agreement — keep the agreement for 4 years

B.C. statutory holidays: dates for 2026 and 2027

The 2026 dates come from the B.C. government's statutory holiday page; the 2027 dates are calculated from the rule for each holiday. The list itself is set by section 1 of the Employment Standards Act, which defines "statutory holiday" and lets the government add more by regulation.

Three days cause the most confusion. Boxing Day is not a statutory holiday in B.C., even though it is one in Ontario and for federally regulated employers. Easter Monday isn't one either. And Remembrance Day is a full statutory holiday in B.C., which surprises employers who have moved from Ontario, where it isn't. An employment contract, policy or collective agreement can always give more days off; if it does, the contract decides how those extra days are paid.

In 2027, Christmas Day falls on a Saturday. Unlike Ontario, B.C. does not require a substitute day off when a holiday lands on a weekend — the employee is owed an average day's pay instead, as explained below. Many employers still choose to close on the Monday, but that is a policy choice, not a legal requirement.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

The eleventh holiday is the newest. B.C.'s Bill 2, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Act, was introduced on 7 February 2023 and came into force on 9 March 2023. It added 30 September to the Act's list of statutory holidays, responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action 80. Since 2023 it has carried exactly the same pay rights as every other statutory holiday. The day is also known as Orange Shirt Day.

Federally regulated employers in B.C.

Banks, airlines, interprovincial trucking and bus companies, telecoms, ports and other federally regulated employers in B.C. follow the Canada Labour Code, not the provincial Act. The federal list has ten general holidays: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Family Day and B.C. Day aren't on it, but Boxing Day is. Federal holiday pay is one-twentieth of the wages earned in the four weeks before the week of the holiday (excluding overtime), and working a holiday earns at least 1.5 times the regular rate plus holiday pay.

Who qualifies for statutory holiday pay in B.C.

Section 44 of the Employment Standards Act sets two conditions. The employee must:

1. have been employed by the employer for at least 30 calendar days before the statutory holiday, and
2. have worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 calendar days before the holiday — or have worked under an averaging agreement at any time in that 30-day period.

There is no rule in B.C. about working the last scheduled shift before and the first one after the holiday. The province says plainly that this common belief doesn't apply here. What matters is how many days in the preceding 30 the employee worked or earned wages.

"Earned wages" is wider than "worked". Paid vacation days count, and so does another paid statutory holiday that fell in the 30-day window. So an employee who took a week of paid vacation in the run-up to B.C. Day doesn't lose the holiday because of it. Calendar days are counted, not shifts, and a shift that crosses midnight counts toward the day on which its hours fall.

The 15-day test is where part-time and casual staff are most often caught out. Someone who works two or three shifts a week will usually work 8 to 13 days in a 30-day window, which is short of 15. If they don't qualify, they get nothing for a holiday they don't work. If they do work it, they are paid at their regular rate, exactly as on any other working day — no premium and no average day's pay. A new hire who hasn't reached 30 calendar days is in the same position.

The averaging-agreement route matters for compressed or rotating schedules. Employees on a written averaging agreement under section 37 — for example, a camp or plant worker on two weeks on, two weeks off — qualify even if their days on happen to fall short of 15 in the window before a particular holiday.

Who is excluded

Some workers aren't covered by the statutory holiday rules, or have special rules in the Employment Standards Regulation. The B.C. government lists these groups:

• managers, as defined in the Regulation
• farm workers, fishers, nursing students and volunteer firefighters
• high technology professionals
• silviculture workers and car and truck salespeople, when they receive 4.4% of wages on each cheque instead
• some commission salespeople, under conditions set in the Regulation

Unionized employees are covered through their collective agreement. If its holiday provisions meet or exceed Part 5 of the Act, they apply instead. If they fall short, the Act's provisions are treated as part of the agreement, and disputes go through the grievance procedure rather than to the Employment Standards Branch.

How to calculate an average day's pay

Section 45 of the Act sets the formula as amount paid ÷ days worked, measured over the 30 calendar days before the statutory holiday.

B.C. average day's pay, step by step

1. 1

   Mark the 30-day window

   Count back 30 calendar days from the day before the holiday. For Thanksgiving on 12 October 2026, the window is 12 September to 11 October.

2. 2

   Add up the amount paid or payable

   Include regular wages, salary, commission, vacation pay for vacation days in the window, statutory holiday pay for any earlier holiday in the window, and sick pay required by the Act.

3. 3

   Take out overtime

   Overtime pay is excluded. Benefit plan payments aren't wages for this purpose either.

4. 4

   Count the days worked

   Count each day on which wages were earned — days worked, paid vacation days, paid statutory holidays and paid sick days required by the Act.

5. 5

   Divide

   Total wages ÷ days worked = the average day's pay owed for the holiday.

The big difference from Ontario is the divisor. Ontario divides four weeks' pay by a fixed 20, so a part-timer gets a fraction of a day's pay. B.C. divides by the number of days the employee actually worked, so a qualifying part-timer receives roughly one normal shift's pay. The trade-off is the 15-day test, which screens out many part-timers before the formula ever applies.

Worked examples

The province's own example. A hospitality employee earning C$20 an hour worked nineteen 8-hour shifts in the 30 days before New Year's Day and was paid stat pay for Christmas Day. Wages for the 19 shifts were C$3,040, plus C$160 of Christmas stat pay, for C$3,200 in total. Divided by 20 days (19 worked plus Christmas Day), the average day's pay for New Year's Day is C$160.

Full-time hourly, Canada Day 2026. A warehouse worker in Surrey earns C$25 an hour, 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday. The window before Wednesday, 1 July runs from 1 to 30 June 2026, which contains 22 weekdays. Wages are 22 × C$200 = C$4,400, so the average day's pay is C$4,400 ÷ 22 = C$200.

Part-time, B.C. Day 2026. A café server works 6-hour shifts at C$20 an hour. In the 30 days before 3 August she worked 13 shifts. She has been employed for a year, but 13 is short of 15, so she doesn't qualify: no stat pay if she's off, and her regular C$20 an hour if she's scheduled that day. Had she picked up three extra shifts — 16 days, C$1,920 in wages — she would qualify for C$1,920 ÷ 16 = C$120.

Including vacation. A salaried office administrator earns C$1,250 a week (C$250 a day). In the 30 days before Thanksgiving he worked 16 days, took 5 paid vacation days paid at C$250 each, and was paid C$250 of stat pay for 30 September. That's 22 days and C$5,500, so his average day's pay is C$250.

Working on a statutory holiday

Under section 46, an eligible employee who works on a statutory holiday is paid three things:

• time-and-a-half their regular wage for hours worked, up to 12 hours,
• double their regular wage for any hours over 12 hours, and
• an average day's pay, calculated as above.

There is no option in the Act to swap the premium for a substitute day off, as Ontario and Alberta allow. The only way to move a B.C. holiday is the substitution agreement covered in the next section, made before the fact.

What a qualifying employee is paid (average day's pay C$200, regular rate C$25)

Situation	Calculation	Total for the day
Day off on the holiday	Average day's pay	C$200
Holiday on a regular day off	Average day's pay	C$200
Works 8 hours	8 × C$37.50 + C$200	C$500
Works 10 hours	10 × C$37.50 + C$200	C$575
Works 14 hours	12 × C$37.50 + 2 × C$50 + C$200	C$750
Doesn't qualify, works 8 hours	8 × C$25 (regular rate only)	C$200

Day off on the holiday

Calculation

Average day's pay

Total for the day

C$200

Holiday on a regular day off

Calculation

Average day's pay

Total for the day

C$200

Works 8 hours

Calculation

8 × C$37.50 + C$200

Total for the day

C$500

Works 10 hours

Calculation

10 × C$37.50 + C$200

Total for the day

C$575

Works 14 hours

Calculation

12 × C$37.50 + 2 × C$50 + C$200

Total for the day

C$750

Doesn't qualify, works 8 hours

Calculation

8 × C$25 (regular rate only)

Total for the day

C$200

Take the minimum-wage case. B.C.'s general minimum wage is C$18.25 an hour from 1 June 2026. A qualifying cashier on that rate who works 8 hours on Labour Day earns 8 × C$27.375, or C$219, plus their average day's pay. If their average day's pay is C$146 (8 hours at C$18.25), the total for Labour Day is C$365.

Remember that daily overtime in B.C. starts after 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Overtime is left out of the average day's pay calculation, so a busy month of overtime doesn't raise holiday pay. See our guide to overtime pay in Canada for the daily and weekly rules.

Holidays on a day off, during vacation and substituted days

On a day off. An eligible employee is owed an average day's pay whether the holiday falls on a scheduled working day or a regular day off. Section 45 says so directly. The employer doesn't have to give another day off as well — the payment is the entitlement. This is why Christmas Day 2027, a Saturday, still costs a Monday-to-Friday employer one average day's pay per qualifying employee, even though nobody would have worked that day.

During vacation. If a statutory holiday falls during an employee's annual vacation, the vacation isn't shortened and vacation pay isn't reduced. The eligible employee gets the average day's pay on top. In practice, a week's vacation over Canada Day uses four vacation days, not five, or the employer pays the holiday separately — either way, the employee shouldn't lose a vacation day to the holiday.

Substituting another day. Section 48 lets an employer move a statutory holiday to another day for one or more employees, but only if the employer and the employee — or a majority of the affected employees — agree. The substitute day then carries every right the original holiday had: the average day's pay if it's taken off, premium pay if it's worked. The employer must keep records of these agreements for four years. A common use is a retailer that trades Family Day for a quieter Tuesday, or an office that observes Remembrance Day on a different date by agreement with staff.

Holiday pay calendar for the rest of 2026 and early 2027

Mon 12 Oct 2026

Thanksgiving — 30-day window 12 Sep to 11 Oct, includes 30 September stat pay

Wed 11 Nov 2026

Remembrance Day — a full statutory holiday in B.C.

Fri 25 Dec 2026

Christmas Day — Boxing Day on Saturday is not a B.C. stat

Fri 1 Jan 2027

New Year's Day — window includes Christmas stat pay

Mon 15 Feb 2027

Family Day

Payroll, records and complaints

Stat holiday pay is wages, so it goes through payroll like regular pay, with income tax, CPP and EI deducted as usual — our payroll deductions guide has the 2026 rates. Show it on the wage statement as a separate line so employees can check it, and keep the 30-day calculation with your records in case a claim is made.

Employees who think they've been underpaid usually raise it with their employer first and can then go to B.C.'s Employment Standards Branch, which publishes its complaint process on the official site. Holiday pay disputes are among the easiest claims for the Branch to check, because the 30-day window and the payroll records either support the payment or they don't — so keep the working, not just the final figure.

Stat holiday pay also feeds into vacation pay. Vacation pay in B.C. is calculated as a percentage of the employee's wages, so check whether your payroll software includes statutory holiday pay in that base. Our vacation pay guide explains the percentages by province.

Common mistakes B.C. employers make

Applying Ontario's "last and first shift" rule. B.C. doesn't use it. An employee who calls in sick the day before the long weekend still qualifies if they meet the 30-day and 15-of-30 tests.

Paying Boxing Day as a stat. You can, by policy, but you don't have to. Problems start when an employer has paid it for years and then stops without warning, because staff may treat it as part of their terms. Give clear notice and consider advice before changing a long-standing practice.

Forgetting Remembrance Day and 30 September. Both are full statutory holidays in B.C. Employers with operations in several provinces sometimes run the Ontario or Alberta holiday list across all staff and miss them.

Paying a flat eight hours. The average day's pay is based on actual earnings in the 30-day window. A full-timer on 10-hour shifts is owed more than eight hours' pay; a qualifying part-timer on 5-hour shifts is owed less.

Leaving in overtime or leaving out earlier stat pay. Overtime comes out of the total. Vacation pay and earlier statutory holiday pay in the window go in — and those days count in the divisor.

Giving a substitute day instead of the premium. Without a section 48 agreement made in advance, an employee who works the holiday must get the premium plus the average day's pay. A day off later doesn't replace it.

Before each B.C. statutory holiday

0/7

• Check each employee has been employed at least 30 calendar days
• Count days worked or paid (including vacation and earlier stats) in the 30-day window — 15 needed
• Add up wages in the window, removing overtime
• Divide by days worked to get each average day's pay
• Pay time-and-a-half up to 12 hours and double time after for anyone working
• Pay qualifying staff whose day off falls on the holiday
• File any section 48 substitution agreements for 4 years

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Official links

• B.C. — statutory holidaysHoliday list and dates
• B.C. — qualify for statutory holiday pay30-day and 15-of-30 test, exclusions
• B.C. — calculate statutory holiday payAverage day's pay and premium pay
• Employment Standards Act (B.C.)Part 5, sections 44–48
• Federal — vacations and general holidaysFor federally regulated employers in B.C.

What to do next

Add the remaining 2026 holidays and the 2027 dates to your payroll calendar, and set up your payroll software to calculate the average day's pay from the 30-day window rather than a flat day. Check your part-timers against the 15-of-30 test before each holiday so you aren't paying — or missing — stat pay by guesswork. If you also employ staff in other provinces, compare the rules in our guides to statutory holidays in Ontario and statutory holidays in Alberta, and use our salary slip generator to show stat pay and premium pay as separate lines.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How many statutory holidays are there in BC?

British Columbia has 11 statutory holidays under the Employment Standards Act: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, B.C. Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in B.C., though many employers give them by contract.

Is Boxing Day a stat holiday in BC?

No. Boxing Day is not on the list of statutory holidays in B.C.'s Employment Standards Act, so provincially regulated employers don't have to give the day off or pay stat holiday pay for it. Some contracts and collective agreements add it, and federally regulated employers in B.C. — banks, airlines, telecoms — must treat it as a general holiday under the Canada Labour Code.

Who qualifies for stat holiday pay in BC?

An employee qualifies if they have been employed for at least 30 calendar days before the holiday and worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 calendar days before it, or worked under an averaging agreement during that period. Paid vacation days and other paid statutory holidays count as days on which wages were earned. Managers and some other occupations are excluded.

How is stat holiday pay calculated in BC?

B.C. pays an average day's pay: total wages paid or payable in the 30 calendar days before the holiday, divided by the number of days worked or on which wages were earned in that period. Overtime pay is left out of the total. A full-timer who earned C$4,400 over 22 working days gets C$200 for the holiday.

What do you get paid for working a stat holiday in BC?

An eligible employee who works the holiday gets time-and-a-half for hours worked up to 12, double time for hours over 12 hours, plus an average day's pay. Someone who doesn't qualify is paid at their regular rate for the hours worked, as on any other day, with no average day's pay.

What happens when a stat holiday falls on a day off in BC?

An eligible employee still gets an average day's pay, whether the holiday falls on a scheduled working day or a regular day off. The employer doesn't have to give another day off instead. When a holiday falls during an employee's vacation, the vacation isn't reduced and the average day's pay is still owed.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 12 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Statutory holidays in B.C. — Government of British Columbia · accessed 12 October 2026
2. 2.Qualify for statutory holiday pay — Government of British Columbia · accessed 12 October 2026
3. 3.Calculate statutory holiday pay — Government of British Columbia · accessed 12 October 2026
4. 4.Interpretation Guidelines Manual — ESA Part 5, section 45 — B.C. Employment Standards Branch · accessed 12 October 2026
5. 5.Interpretation Guidelines Manual — ESA Part 5, section 44 — B.C. Employment Standards Branch · accessed 12 October 2026
6. 6.Employment Standards Act, RSBC 1996, c. 113 (sections 1, 44–48) — King's Printer for British Columbia · accessed 12 October 2026
7. 7.Minimum wage (B.C.) — Government of British Columbia · accessed 12 October 2026
8. 8.Annual vacations and general holidays (federally regulated employers) — Employment and Social Development Canada · accessed 12 October 2026
9. 9.B.C. proposes stat holiday marking National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP · accessed 12 October 2026