Saskatchewan Statutory Holidays (2026): The 10 Public Holidays and How the 5% Holiday Pay Works

Saskatchewan's holiday pay rules are among the simplest in Canada, and also among the most generous to part-timers and new hires. There is no qualifying period, no "worked the day before and after" test in the government's guidance, and one formula for almost everyone: 5% of what the employee earned in the four weeks before the holiday. This guide is for Saskatchewan employers, payroll staff and employees in 2026. It lists the ten public holidays with dates for 2026 and 2027, shows how to run the 5% calculation, explains what to pay someone who works the holiday, and covers the special cases — construction, salaried staff, hotels and restaurants, and overtime in a holiday week — with examples in Canadian dollars.

Quick answer

Saskatchewan has 10 public holidays. Every employee — full-time, part-time or casual, from day one — gets public holiday pay of 5% of wages earned in the 28 days before the holiday, excluding overtime. Anyone who works the holiday also gets 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked, on top of the holiday pay.

• Not provincial holidays: Easter Monday, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, 30 September

• Include vacation pay, commission and earlier holiday pay in the 4-week total; leave out overtime

• Hourly construction workers get 4% of yearly wages instead

• In a holiday week, weekly overtime starts after 32 hours

• Must still be employed on the holiday to be paid for it

Saskatchewan public holidays: dates for 2026 and 2027

The 2026 dates are the ones the Government of Saskatchewan publishes on its list of public holidays. The 2027 dates follow the same fixed dates and Monday rules; the province had not yet posted its 2027 list when this page was checked, so confirm them there before you lock in next year's payroll calendar.

These ten days are set by The Saskatchewan Employment Act and apply to every provincially regulated employer, whatever the size of the business. Saskatchewan calls them public holidays rather than statutory or general holidays, but the meaning is the same.

Days that are not public holidays in Saskatchewan

The government states plainly that Easter Monday, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day are not public holidays. Nor is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September: it is a general holiday for federally regulated workplaces, but not under the provincial Act, so it isn't a minimum requirement for a Saskatchewan-regulated employer. An employer can still give any of these days off with pay through a policy, an employment contract or a collective agreement that adopts the federal holidays. If you do, write it down and apply it to everyone in the same group the same way — inconsistent treatment is a common source of complaints.

Holidays that fall on a weekend

Saskatchewan does not automatically shift every weekend holiday to Monday. If a business is normally open on Sundays, the public holiday rules simply apply on that Sunday. If a business is normally closed on Sundays and New Year's Day, Christmas Day or Remembrance Day falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed as the holiday. Canada Day follows federal law, so when 1 July is a Sunday it is observed on Monday, 2 July. A holiday that lands on a Saturday is not moved at all.

That matters for 2027, when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday. Under the Saskatchewan rules, the holiday stays on the Saturday. Because holiday pay is a percentage of recent earnings rather than "a paid day off", employees still receive their 5% whether or not they normally work Saturdays — the day of the week changes who works it, not who gets paid.

Federally regulated employers in Saskatchewan

Banks, airlines, railways, interprovincial trucking and pipeline companies, telecoms and other federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code, not the provincial Act. The federal list has 10 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 Saskatchewan Day are not on it. Federal holiday pay is one-twentieth of wages earned in the four weeks before the week of the holiday, excluding overtime, and an employee who works the holiday gets 1.5 times their rate on top.

Who qualifies for public holiday pay

This is where Saskatchewan differs most from its neighbours. Alberta requires 30 workdays with the employer, and New Brunswick requires 90 calendar days; Saskatchewan has no waiting period. The government's guidance says employees are paid for public holidays regardless of how they are paid or how many hours they work, and that a new employee is entitled to holiday pay even if they've been on the payroll for less than four weeks. In that case, the 5% is applied to the regular wages earned before the holiday.

The guidance also doesn't impose the attendance test common elsewhere — the rule in Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia that skipping the shift before or after a holiday costs the employee their pay. Absences reduce holiday pay only indirectly: if someone misses shifts in the four weeks before the holiday, they earned less, so 5% of their wages is smaller.

The condition that does matter is being employed on the holiday itself. If employment ends before the holiday, no public holiday pay is owed for it. An employee who resigns effective the Friday before Labour Day isn't owed Labour Day pay; one who resigns effective the Tuesday after is.

Example — the brand-new hire. A café in Saskatoon hires a barista who starts on Monday, 28 September 2026, two weeks before Thanksgiving. She works 50 hours at C$15.70 an hour before the holiday and earns C$785. Her Thanksgiving holiday pay is 5% × C$785 = C$39.25. Under Alberta's rules she would get nothing for that holiday; in Saskatchewan she's owed this from her second week.

Before paying a Saskatchewan public holiday, confirm

0/5

• The person is still employed on the holiday
• Every employee is included — part-time, casual and new hires
• Whether they are federally regulated (Canada Labour Code instead)
• Whether they are hourly construction staff on the 4% rule
• Whether a special rule applies (drilling rigs, hog barns, full-timers in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, hotels, restaurants)

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How to calculate Saskatchewan public holiday pay

The formula is set in section 2-32 of The Saskatchewan Employment Act and repeated in the government's guidance: public holiday pay = 5% of the wages earned in the 28 days before the holiday.

What goes into the total:

• all regular wages earned in those four weeks, whether hourly, salaried, piece-rate or commission;
• vacation pay for vacation taken during the four weeks;
• public holiday pay for any other public holiday that fell in the four weeks.

What stays out: overtime pay.

Why 5%? Four weeks of a five-day schedule is 20 working days, and one day out of 20 is 5%. So for a full-time employee with steady hours, the formula produces almost exactly one normal day's pay. For anyone whose hours vary, it produces a proportionate share — someone who works half-time gets roughly half a day's pay, and someone who works one shift a week gets a fraction of a shift. That is why the Saskatchewan approach is often described as treating every employee the same way, rather than splitting them into "regular" and "irregular" groups as Alberta does.

Working out Saskatchewan holiday pay

Step 1

Still employed on the holiday?

Step 2

Total wages in the 28 days before (no overtime)

Step 3

Add vacation pay taken + earlier holiday pay

Step 4

× 5% = public holiday pay

Paid whether or not they work

Step 5

Worked the holiday? + 1.5× for each hour

Premium pay

Worked example: a full-time hourly employee

A warehouse worker earns C$24 an hour and works 8 hours a day, five days a week. In the 28 days before Canada Day he works 160 regular hours and 6 hours of overtime. His overtime pay is left out, so his wages for the calculation are 160 × C$24 = C$3,840. His public holiday pay is 5% × C$3,840 = C$192 — exactly 8 hours at C$24, which is one regular day.

Worked example: the government's commission case

The province's own example uses an employee paid C$600 a week plus commission. In the four weeks before the holiday, she takes one week of vacation, paid C$600, and earns C$1,000 in commission. Her total is three weeks of regular wages (C$1,800) plus vacation pay (C$600) plus commission (C$1,000), or C$3,400. Her public holiday pay is 5% × C$3,400 = C$170.

Salaried employees given the day off

Most salaried staff simply get the holiday off and their salary continues. Saskatchewan's guidance explains how that interacts with the 5% rule: the value of the paid day off is deducted from the public holiday pay owed. In the commission example, a five-day week at C$600 makes each day worth C$120, so if she is given the holiday off with pay, the employer owes the difference: C$170 − C$120 = C$50.

For a salaried employee with no commission, the two numbers usually cancel out. A manager on C$78,000 a year earns C$1,500 a week, or C$300 a day. Four weeks' salary is C$6,000, and 5% is C$300 — the same as the day off, so nothing extra is owed. Where variable pay pushes the 5% figure above a normal day, the extra must be paid. The government notes that some employers paying fixed salaries let employees choose between the 5% payment and an additional paid day off.

Working on a public holiday: premium pay

Saskatchewan doesn't stop employers from opening on public holidays. What it does is make holiday work more expensive. An employee who works a public holiday earns 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for every hour worked, and this premium is paid in addition to the 5% public holiday pay. The government stresses that the premium also applies to managerial and professional employees and to operators of group homes — groups that are often excluded from overtime in other provinces.

Example — a retail clerk on minimum wage. A part-time clerk in Regina earns C$15.70 an hour. She worked 80 hours in the 28 days before Thanksgiving 2026, earning C$1,256. Her public holiday pay is 5% × C$1,256 = C$62.80. She works a 6-hour shift on Thanksgiving: 6 × C$15.70 × 1.5 = C$141.30. Her pay for the day is C$141.30 + C$62.80 = C$204.10.

If she had stayed home, she would still receive the C$62.80. That's the key difference from provinces such as Alberta and Manitoba, where some part-time employees get nothing for a holiday they don't work.

Full-time staff in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, hotels and restaurants

The province has a special rule for full-time employees working in a hospital, an educational institution, a nursing home, a hotel or a restaurant. If they work a public holiday, they're still paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked. On top of that, the employer can give either the normal public holiday pay or a day off at regular pay, and that day off must fall within the four-week period in which the holiday occurs. A restaurant that keeps its full-time cooks on Victoria Day can therefore schedule each of them a paid day off later in that four-week window instead of paying the 5%.

Saskatchewan also has separate public holiday pay rules for employees operating well drilling rigs and for employees of commercial hog operations. If you operate in either industry, read those pages on saskatchewan.ca before relying on the general rule.

What a Saskatchewan employee is paid (C$20/hour, 160 hours in the 4 weeks before)

Situation	Pay for the holiday
Doesn't work the holiday	5% × C$3,200 = C$160
Works 8 hours on the holiday	8 × C$30 = C$240, plus C$160 = C$400
Full-time hotel employee, works 8 hours	C$240 plus either C$160 or a paid day off within the same four weeks
Part-timer, 60 hours in the 4 weeks, off	5% × C$1,200 = C$60
Started 2 weeks ago, earned C$1,600, off	5% × C$1,600 = C$80
Resigned the week before the holiday	Nothing for that holiday

Doesn't work the holiday

Pay for the holiday

5% × C$3,200 = C$160

Works 8 hours on the holiday

Pay for the holiday

8 × C$30 = C$240, plus C$160 = C$400

Full-time hotel employee, works 8 hours

Pay for the holiday

C$240 plus either C$160 or a paid day off within the same four weeks

Part-timer, 60 hours in the 4 weeks, off

Pay for the holiday

5% × C$1,200 = C$60

Started 2 weeks ago, earned C$1,600, off

Pay for the holiday

5% × C$1,600 = C$80

Resigned the week before the holiday

Pay for the holiday

Nothing for that holiday

Overtime in a week with a public holiday

Saskatchewan's normal overtime rule is 8 hours a day (10 on a 4-day schedule) or 40 hours a week. A public holiday changes the weekly number. In a week that contains a public holiday, overtime is payable after 32 hours rather than 40, and hours worked on the holiday itself don't count toward those 32 hours — they're already paid at time and a half. Daily overtime still follows the employee's schedule: after 8 hours on an 8-hour day, or after 10 hours on a 10-hour day.

Example. A fabrication shop runs a Monday-to-Friday schedule. In Labour Day week, a welder works 9 hours on each of Tuesday through Friday — 36 hours, none of them on the holiday. Each day includes one hour of daily overtime (4 hours in total). The remaining 32 straight-time hours exactly reach the holiday-week threshold, so no further weekly overtime is owed. If he had also worked a fifth day, those hours would go straight to overtime.

Workplaces that average hours under a modified work arrangement or an averaging permit adjust differently: each public holiday in the averaging period reduces the overtime threshold by 8 hours. The government's example is a four-week period normally set at 160 hours; with one public holiday in it, overtime starts after 152 hours. Overtime is also payable for anything beyond the daily limit in the arrangement or permit.

Construction employees: 4% instead

Hourly-paid construction employees don't get the 5%-of-four-weeks calculation. Instead, their public holiday pay is 4% of the wages they earn in the calendar year, excluding overtime and vacation pay. It must be paid by 31 December of the year in which it's earned, or within 14 days of the employment ending. Many construction employers pay it on each cheque so the obligation never builds up.

Example. A labourer earns C$58,000 in straight-time wages in 2026, plus C$4,500 of overtime and C$2,400 of vacation pay. His public holiday pay is 4% × C$58,000 = C$2,320. If his job ends on 15 August, the 4% on wages earned to that date must be paid within 14 days.

Saskatchewan holiday numbers (2026)

10

Public holidays

5%

Of 28 days' wages

Excluding overtime

1.5×

Premium for hours worked

On top of holiday pay

4%

Construction (hourly)

Of yearly wages

Moving a holiday to another day

Saskatchewan lets employers observe a public holiday on a different day without a government permit, as long as three conditions are met: the holiday isn't Remembrance Day; the substitute day falls within four weeks of the original date; and the employer and employees agree in writing. The employer must give a copy of the agreement to every employee it affects and keep it for two years after it ends. If those conditions can't be met — for example, a manufacturer wants to move several holidays to create a longer Christmas shutdown — a permit is needed.

Moving the day doesn't change the pay. Employees still receive the 5%, and anyone working the original date under the agreement is working an ordinary day, while the substitute day becomes the holiday for premium-pay purposes.

Running Saskatchewan holiday pay each time

1. 1

   Confirm who is still employed on the holiday

   Anyone whose employment ended before the holiday gets nothing for it; everyone else qualifies, however new.

2. 2

   Pull the 28 days of wages

   Regular wages, commission, vacation pay taken and earlier holiday pay — leave out overtime.

3. 3

   Multiply by 5%

   For salaried staff given the day off, pay only any amount above the value of that day.

4. 4

   Add premium pay for anyone who worked

   1.5 × regular rate for every hour on the holiday, including managers and professionals.

5. 5

   Recalculate overtime for the week

   Weekly overtime after 32 hours, excluding holiday hours; check daily overtime separately.

   Open the provincial calculator

Holiday pay, vacation pay and payroll records

Because public holiday pay is a wage, it feeds into other calculations. It counts toward the four-week base for the next public holiday — if Victoria Day pay was earned in the 28 days before Canada Day, it goes into the Canada Day total. It is also part of the wages on which vacation pay is earned; Saskatchewan's base vacation pay rate is 3/52 (5.77%). See our vacation pay guide for the full calculation.

Payroll records should show public holiday pay and premium pay as separate lines. That makes it easy to answer an employee's question, defend an audit by Employment Standards and check that overtime was excluded from the base. It also helps when you issue a Record of Employment, where holiday pay paid at separation has to be reported correctly.

Common mistakes Saskatchewan employers make

Paying holiday pay only to full-timers. The 5% applies to every employee, including casuals and those hired last week. Leaving part-timers out is the most common underpayment.

Applying another province's waiting period. Payroll software set up for Alberta or Ontario may hold back holiday pay until 30 days of service. Saskatchewan has no such rule.

Paying a flat "day's pay" to everyone. A fixed 8-hour day overpays light-schedule staff and can underpay commission earners whose 5% is higher than a base day.

Forgetting to include commission and vacation pay. Both belong in the four-week total; overtime does not.

Leaving managers off the premium. Unlike overtime, holiday premium pay applies to managerial and professional employees.

Treating Boxing Day as a provincial holiday — or as a normal day for a federal workplace. It's an ordinary workday for provincial employers but a general holiday for federally regulated ones.

If an employee thinks they've been underpaid, they can raise it with Saskatchewan Employment Standards (1-800-667-1783), which can investigate and order unpaid wages.

Official links

• Saskatchewan — public (statutory) holidaysOverview and special rules
• Saskatchewan — paying employees for public holidays5% formula, premium, overtime, construction
• Saskatchewan — list of public holidaysDates and weekend rules
• Saskatchewan — public holiday pay calculatorOfficial calculator
• Federal — vacations and general holidaysFor federally regulated employers

What to do next

Add the 2026 and 2027 public holidays to your payroll calendar, check that your payroll software calculates 5% of the previous 28 days for every employee — not only full-timers — and decide in writing whether you'll give any extra days such as Boxing Day. If you have staff in other provinces, compare our guides to statutory holidays in Alberta and statutory holidays in Manitoba, and review the overtime rules for holiday weeks. 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 Saskatchewan?

Saskatchewan has 10 public holidays under The Saskatchewan Employment Act: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Saskatchewan Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. Easter Monday, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are not provincial public holidays, although employers can choose to give them.

How is stat holiday pay calculated in Saskatchewan?

Public holiday pay is 5% of the wages the employee earned in the 28 days before the holiday, not counting overtime. Vacation pay for vacation taken in those four weeks, commission and holiday pay for an earlier holiday in the period are included. For a full-timer on a five-day week, 5% of four weeks works out to roughly one day's pay.

Do you have to work a certain time to get holiday pay in Saskatchewan?

No. Saskatchewan has no qualifying period. A new employee who started less than four weeks before a holiday still gets 5% of the regular wages earned so far. The one condition the government stresses is that the person must still be an employee on the holiday; if the job ends before it, no pay is owed for that day.

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

An employee who works a public holiday gets 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for every hour worked, plus the normal 5% public holiday pay. The premium applies to managers and professionals too. Full-time staff in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, hotels and restaurants can get a paid day off within the same four-week period instead of the holiday pay.

Is Boxing Day a stat holiday in Saskatchewan?

No. Boxing Day, Christmas Eve and Easter Monday are not public holidays in Saskatchewan, so provincially regulated employers can open at regular rates. Federally regulated employers in the province, such as banks, airlines and telecoms, must treat Boxing Day as a general holiday under the Canada Labour Code.

Is September 30 a stat holiday in Saskatchewan?

Not for provincially regulated employers. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a federal general holiday, but it is not a public holiday under The Saskatchewan Employment Act. Provincial employers can observe it through a policy or collective agreement, and federally regulated employers in Saskatchewan must give it.

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.Paying employees for public holidays — Government of Saskatchewan · accessed 13 October 2026
2. 2.List of Saskatchewan public holidays — Government of Saskatchewan · accessed 13 October 2026
3. 3.Public (statutory) holidays — Government of Saskatchewan · accessed 13 October 2026
4. 4.Full-time employees — special rules for public holidays — Government of Saskatchewan · accessed 13 October 2026
5. 5.Payment of wages, payroll administration, benefits and time sheets — Government of Saskatchewan · accessed 13 October 2026
6. 6.Annual vacations and general holidays (federally regulated employers) — Employment and Social Development Canada · accessed 13 October 2026