Manitoba Statutory Holidays (2026): The 9 General Holidays, Holiday Pay and the 5% Rule

Manitoba has nine general holidays, and two of them exist nowhere else in Canada in quite the same form: Louis Riel Day in February and, since 2024, Orange Shirt Day on 30 September. Holiday pay is straightforward for anyone on a steady schedule — a regular day's wages — and uses a 5% formula for everyone else. This guide is for Manitoba employers, payroll staff and employees in 2026. It gives the general holidays with dates for 2026 and 2027, explains who qualifies, shows how to calculate holiday pay, sets out what to pay when someone works a holiday (including the special rule for restaurants, hotels and other continuous operations), and covers Remembrance Day, which follows its own law. Every example is in Canadian dollars.

Quick answer

Manitoba has 9 general holidays, including Louis Riel Day and Orange Shirt Day (30 September). There's no minimum service. Staff on consistent hours get a regular day's wages; anyone whose hours or pay vary gets 5% of gross wages from the 4 weeks before, excluding overtime. Working the holiday adds 1.5 times the regular rate for the hours worked.

• Not general holidays: Remembrance Day (own rules), Boxing Day, Easter Monday, Terry Fox Day

• Unapproved absence on the shift before or after — or on the holiday when scheduled — loses holiday pay

• Restaurants, hotels, gas stations and similar may pay straight time plus a paid day off within 30 days

• Orange Shirt Day can't be moved to another day

• Construction employees get 4% of gross earnings instead

Manitoba general holidays: dates for 2026 and 2027

Manitoba Employment Standards publishes these dates for 2025, 2026 and 2027 in its general holidays fact sheet. They apply to every provincially regulated employer under The Employment Standards Code.

Not general holidays in Manitoba

The province lists Easter Sunday, Terry Fox Day (the August civic holiday), Boxing Day and Remembrance Day as days that are not general holidays, so there's no obligation to pay staff who have them off. Remembrance Day is a special case with its own closing and pay rules, covered below. Easter Monday isn't on the list either. An employer can give any of these days off with pay by policy or agreement — many offices close on Boxing Day — but should apply that choice consistently and record it.

Louis Riel Day

Louis Riel Day falls on the third Monday in February, the same day other provinces observe Family Day. It honours the Métis leader who led the provisional government that negotiated Manitoba's entry into Confederation. For payroll, it's an ordinary general holiday: the same eligibility tests and pay rules apply, and it can be substituted with another day by agreement.

Orange Shirt Day: the newest general holiday

Manitoba's Legislature passed Bill 4, The Employment Standards Code Amendment and Interpretation Amendment Act (Orange Shirt Day), in December 2023. It added Orange Shirt Day — the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — to the Code's list of general holidays, so 30 September 2024 was the first year it was a paid holiday for provincially regulated workers. Manitoba is one of only a few provinces to make it a statutory holiday for the private sector; in neighbouring Saskatchewan and in Alberta it remains optional for provincially regulated employers.

Bill 4 added one rule that sets Orange Shirt Day apart: it cannot be substituted. Every other general holiday can be moved to another day by a collective agreement or by written agreement with a majority of employees, but 30 September must be observed on 30 September. In 2026 it falls on a Wednesday and in 2027 on a Thursday, so most businesses will see a mid-week holiday rather than a long weekend.

Federally regulated employers in Manitoba

Banks, airlines, railways, interprovincial trucking, telecoms and other federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code. Its 10 general holidays include the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day and Boxing Day, but not Louis Riel Day. Federal holiday pay is one-twentieth of the wages earned in the four weeks before the week of the holiday, excluding overtime.

Who qualifies for general holiday pay

Manitoba has no waiting period. Length of employment doesn't affect the entitlement — the government's example is an employee who starts the day before a holiday, who is owed 5% of the wages earned on that one day.

An employee is not entitled to general holiday pay if they:

• were scheduled to work on the holiday and were absent without the employer's permission, or
• were absent without permission on their last scheduled workday before the holiday or their first scheduled workday after it.

"Scheduled" matters. The test looks at the employee's own last and first scheduled shifts, which for a part-timer may be several days away from the holiday. And "without permission" means an approved absence — a booked vacation day, an approved sick day — doesn't cost the employee their holiday pay. Keep the approval in writing.

Election officials, enumerators and other temporary appointees under The Elections Act are the only group the fact sheet excludes outright.

Example — the missed Thursday shift. A cashier in Brandon works Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Good Friday falls on a day she doesn't normally work. Her last scheduled shift before it is Thursday, and her first after it is Saturday. If she skips Thursday without permission, she loses holiday pay for Good Friday. If she had been sick and her manager approved the absence, she'd still qualify.

Before paying a Manitoba general holiday, confirm

0/5

• The employee wasn't absent without permission on their last scheduled shift before the holiday
• …or on their first scheduled shift after it
• If scheduled to work the holiday, they turned up
• Whether hours are consistent (regular day) or variable (5%)
• Whether they're in construction (4%) or federally regulated

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How to calculate Manitoba general holiday pay

Manitoba uses two methods, depending on how steady the employee's schedule is.

Consistent hours: a regular day's wages. If the employee works the same hours each week, holiday pay is their pay for a normal workday. Someone who works 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week at C$22 an hour gets 8 × C$22 = C$176.

Variable hours or wages: 5%. If hours or pay vary, general holiday pay is 5% of the employee's gross wages, excluding overtime, earned in the four weeks immediately before the holiday. The province's example: an employee earning C$1,200 in those four weeks receives C$60.

For employees on commission, piece rates or other incentive pay who don't work the holiday, the 5% is applied to total wages including incentive pay for the four weeks.

Part-time example. A server at a Winnipeg diner earns C$16.40 an hour plus tips. Her shifts vary, and in the four weeks before Thanksgiving 2026 she worked 70 hours, earning C$1,148 in wages. Her holiday pay is 5% × C$1,148 = C$57.40. Tips paid directly by customers are not wages paid by the employer; payroll should base the calculation on the wages it actually paid.

Because 5% of four weeks is one day out of twenty, the result for a full-timer is close to one normal day. For a part-timer, it scales down with their hours, which is fairer than either paying nothing or paying a full shift.

Deciding what a Manitoba holiday is worth

Step 1

Unapproved absence before/after or on the holiday?

Step 2

Consistent hours → regular day's wages

Step 3

Variable hours → 5% of 4 weeks' wages (no overtime)

Step 4

Works the holiday → + 1.5× for hours

Most employers

Step 5

Exempt industries → straight time + paid day off

Within 30 days

Working on a general holiday

The standard rule

Most employers who need staff on a general holiday must pay them general holiday pay plus 1.5 times their regular wage for every hour worked that day.

Example. A warehouse associate on variable hours earns C$19 an hour and worked 120 hours in the four weeks before Louis Riel Day, earning C$2,280. His holiday pay is 5% × C$2,280 = C$114. He works 8 hours on the holiday: 8 × C$28.50 = C$228. His total for the day is C$342.

Commission and incentive pay: the province's example

Manitoba's fact sheet works through a commission salesperson who earns C$800 in a week of 40 hours, 8 of them on a general holiday. Her effective hourly rate is C$800 ÷ 40 = C$20. The 32 regular hours are worth C$640, and the 8 holiday hours must be paid at C$30, or C$240 — C$880 in total. Since she was paid only C$800, the employer owes another C$80, plus 5% general holiday pay based on the previous four weeks.

Restaurants, hotels, gas stations and continuous operations

Some employers may pay regular wages, rather than time and a half, for hours worked on a general holiday. The fact sheet lists gas stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, places of amusement, continuously operating businesses, climate-controlled agricultural businesses, seasonal industries other than construction, and employers of domestic workers. In exchange, they must give the employee another day off with holiday pay within 30 days, or, if the employee agrees, before their next annual vacation.

Example. A hotel front-desk clerk on C$18 an hour, with steady 8-hour shifts, works Canada Day. The hotel pays her 8 × C$18 = C$144 for the hours worked and schedules her a paid day off on 20 July, paid at her regular day's wages of C$144. A hotel that misses the 30-day window without an agreement owes the day — or the holiday pay — regardless.

Holidays on days off, during vacation and in overtime weeks

Weekend holiday. If a general holiday falls on a weekend day the employee doesn't normally work, they get their next regular workday off with holiday pay. Christmas Day 2027 falls on a Saturday, so a Monday-to-Friday employee would normally take Monday, 27 December off with pay.

Weekday not normally worked. If the holiday lands on a weekday the employee doesn't normally work — a Wednesday for someone who works Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, for instance — the employer must give a normal workday off with holiday pay before the employee's next vacation, or at another time the employee agrees to. Orange Shirt Day on a Wednesday in 2026 will trigger this for many part-timers.

During vacation. A general holiday isn't counted as a vacation day. If one falls during an employee's vacation, they get another paid day off for it. Holiday pay also counts as wages when calculating vacation pay — see our vacation pay guide.

Overtime. Manitoba's overtime threshold is 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Holiday wages count as hours worked when working out overtime for the week, so a full-timer who has Labour Day off with pay and then works 34 hours over the next four days reaches the 40-hour weekly threshold at 32 hours of actual work plus 8 holiday hours. A general holiday doesn't replace the employee's weekly day of rest.

What a Manitoba employee is paid on a general holiday

Situation	Pay
Consistent hours, day off (8h × C$22)	C$176
Variable hours, C$1,200 in prior 4 weeks, day off	C$60
Variable hours, C$2,280 prior, works 8h at C$19	C$114 + C$228 = C$342
Hotel clerk, works 8h at C$18	C$144 now + a paid day off within 30 days
Absent without permission on last shift before	No holiday pay
Construction employee	4% of gross earnings, usually on each cheque

Consistent hours, day off (8h × C$22)

Pay

C$176

Variable hours, C$1,200 in prior 4 weeks, day off

Pay

C$60

Variable hours, C$2,280 prior, works 8h at C$19

Pay

C$114 + C$228 = C$342

Hotel clerk, works 8h at C$18

Pay

C$144 now + a paid day off within 30 days

Absent without permission on last shift before

Pay

No holiday pay

Construction employee

Pay

4% of gross earnings, usually on each cheque

Substituting another day

Employers can move any general holiday except Orange Shirt Day to another day, using either a collective agreement or a written agreement with a majority of the affected employees. Employment Standards approval isn't needed, but the employer should keep a copy of the agreement. The substitute day must fall within 12 months of the holiday. A manufacturer could, for example, agree with its staff to move the Good Friday holiday to the Monday after Christmas to create a longer winter shutdown. Once substituted, the new day carries all the general holiday rules — eligibility, holiday pay and the time-and-a-half premium — and the original date becomes a normal workday.

When employment ends

Three rules cover departures:

• If the employee had earned an alternate day off but hadn't taken it, the holiday pay must be paid within 10 business days after employment ends, and it can't be counted toward notice.
• If an employee quits before a general holiday, nothing is owed for that holiday.
• If the employer ends the employment before a general holiday, the employee is owed 5% of total wages for the previous four weeks, excluding overtime but including any pay in lieu of notice, paid with the final wages within 10 business days.

Manitoba holiday numbers (2026)

9

General holidays

5%

Of 4 weeks' wages

Variable hours, no overtime

30 days

To give a replacement day

Exempt industries

10 business days

To pay on termination

Construction employees: 4%

Construction employees are covered by The Construction Industry Wages Act as well as the Code, and they don't get days off with pay in the usual way. Instead they receive 4% of their gross earnings as general holiday pay, which employers often add to every cheque. A carpenter who earns C$2,400 in a two-week pay period gets C$96 of holiday pay on that cheque.

Remembrance Day in Manitoba

Remembrance Day isn't a general holiday, but Manitoba restricts business that day and sets special pay rules for anyone who works.

Closing rules. Most industries must not operate on 11 November, though there are many exceptions — hospitals, hotels and restaurants, police, fire and security, transportation, farming and licensed premises among them. Retail businesses may open, but must close from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., unless they sell prepared meals, health or veterinary services, drugs and medical supplies, fuel, or emergency vehicle repairs. Performances such as concerts, movies and sporting events are also barred in that window unless tied to a commemorative or religious service.

Pay. An employee who works on Remembrance Day gets a regular day's pay — or, if their hours vary, 5% of gross earnings from the 28 days before — plus at least half a normal day at 1.5 times their regular wage. If they work more than half their normal hours, every hour is paid at time and a half.

Example. A retail associate on C$18 an hour with 8-hour days works a 6-hour shift starting at 1 p.m. on 11 November. Six hours is more than half a normal day, so she earns 6 × C$27 = C$162 for the hours, plus her regular day's pay of C$144, for C$306. Had she worked only 2 hours, she'd still be paid for 4 hours at C$27 (C$108) plus C$144. Staff who have the day off don't have to be paid, though many employers do.

Remembrance Day can't be swapped for another day. Retail employees can refuse to work on 11 November by giving their employer 14 days' notice.

Common mistakes Manitoba employers make

Skipping Orange Shirt Day or trying to move it. It's a full general holiday for provincially regulated employers, and it's the one day that can't be substituted.

Paying a full day to everyone. Staff with variable hours get 5% of four weeks' wages, which may be well under a full shift — or more, for commission earners.

Missing the 30-day replacement day. Restaurants and hotels paying straight time must actually schedule and pay the substitute day within 30 days, or before the next vacation by agreement.

Treating Remembrance Day as a normal day. Retail stores open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. break the law, and staff who work must get the premium.

Applying a waiting period. Manitoba has none, so new hires qualify immediately.

Official links

• Manitoba — general holidays fact sheetHolidays, eligibility, pay
• Manitoba — Louis Riel Day fact sheetFebruary holiday
• Manitoba — Remembrance Day fact sheetClosures and pay
• Bill 4 (2023) — Orange Shirt DayThe amending Act
• Federal — vacations and general holidaysFor federally regulated employers

What to do next

Load the 2026 and 2027 general holidays into your payroll system, flag Orange Shirt Day as non-substitutable, and decide whether anyone you employ falls under the straight-time-plus-day-off rule. If you have staff in other provinces, compare our guides to statutory holidays in Saskatchewan and statutory holidays in Alberta, and check the Manitoba overtime rules and minimum wage. Our salary slip generator can show holiday 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 Manitoba?

Manitoba's Employment Standards Code has 9 general holidays: New Year's Day, Louis Riel Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Remembrance Day has its own rules, and Boxing Day, Easter Monday and the August Terry Fox Day long weekend are not general holidays.

How is general holiday pay calculated in Manitoba?

An employee with consistent hours gets their regular day's wages. If hours or wages vary, holiday pay is 5% of gross wages, excluding overtime, earned in the four weeks before the holiday. Manitoba's example: C$1,200 earned in those four weeks gives C$60 of holiday pay. Construction employees get 4% of gross earnings instead.

Is Orange Shirt Day a stat holiday in Manitoba?

Yes. Orange Shirt Day, also called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, became a Manitoba general holiday under Bill 4, passed in December 2023, and is observed on 30 September every year. Unlike the other general holidays, employers and employees cannot agree to move it to a different day.

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

Most employees who work a general holiday get their general holiday pay plus 1.5 times their regular wage for the hours worked. Some employers — gas stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, places of amusement, continuous operations and seasonal industries — may pay regular wages for the hours instead, as long as they give another paid day off within 30 days.

Do you need to work a certain time to get holiday pay in Manitoba?

No. There is no minimum length of employment. Someone who starts the day before a holiday is owed 5% of what they earned that day. An employee loses holiday pay only by being absent without permission on the holiday when scheduled to work it, or on their last scheduled workday before or first scheduled workday after it.

Is Remembrance Day a paid holiday in Manitoba?

Remembrance Day isn't one of Manitoba's general holidays and employers don't have to pay staff who have the day off. Most industries must close, and retail stores must close from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Employees who do work on 11 November get a regular day's pay plus time and a half for the hours they work, with a minimum of half a normal day at that rate.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 13 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.General holidays — Employment Standards fact sheet — Government of Manitoba · accessed 13 October 2026
2. 2.Louis Riel Day — Employment Standards fact sheet — Government of Manitoba · accessed 13 October 2026
3. 3.Remembrance Day — Employment Standards fact sheet — Government of Manitoba · accessed 13 October 2026
4. 4.Bill 4 — The Employment Standards Code Amendment and Interpretation Amendment Act (Orange Shirt Day) — Legislative Assembly of Manitoba · accessed 13 October 2026
5. 5.Minimum wage — Employment Standards fact sheet — Government of Manitoba · accessed 13 October 2026
6. 6.Annual vacations and general holidays (federally regulated employers) — Employment and Social Development Canada · accessed 13 October 2026