How Canadian vacation pay works
Every Canadian province and territory sets a legal minimum for two related but separate things: how many weeks of vacation time you are…
Every Canadian province and territory sets a legal minimum for two related but separate things: how many weeks of vacation time you are entitled to each year, and what percentage of your wages you must be paid as vacation pay for that time. Employees of federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code instead of a provincial law. In almost every jurisdiction, both numbers increase once after a set number of completed years of service - typically from 2 weeks (4%) to 3 weeks (6%) - and the federal rules and Saskatchewan add a further increase to 4 weeks (8% or the equivalent 4/52) after 10 years. Yukon is the one exception on this page: its minimum stays flat at 4% and 2 weeks no matter how long you have worked there.
Pick your province, territory, or "Federally regulated employer" in the calculator above, enter your employment start date and your gross vacationable earnings for the period, and the calculator applies the exact minimum percentage and weeks that apply to your years of completed service - using the same data as the table below, so the two can never disagree.
Vacation pay by province and territory
Weeks and percent show the tiers in order, low to high.
| Jurisdiction | Weeks | Percent | Threshold | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | 2 → 3 → 4 | 4% → 6% → 8% | 5 yrs, 10 yrs | High | Source |
| Alberta | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 5 yrs | High | Source |
| British Columbia | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 5 yrs | High | Source |
| Manitoba | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 5 yrs | High | Source |
| New Brunswick | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 8 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 15 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Nova Scotia | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 8 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Nunavut | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 6 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Ontario | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 5 yrs | High | Source |
| Prince Edward Island | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 8 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Quebec | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 3 yrs | High | Source |
| Saskatchewan | 3 → 4 | 5.77% (3/52) → 7.69% (4/52) | 10 yrs | High | Source |
| Northwest Territories | 2 → 3 | 4% → 6% | 5 yrs | Medium | Source |
| Yukon | 2 | 4% | - (flat, no increase) | Medium | Source |
Weeks and percent show the tiers in order, low to high. Threshold shows how many completed years of service are needed to reach each higher tier. Medium-confidence jurisdictions could not be fully cross-checked against the full statute text, or (for the Northwest Territories and Yukon) were researched directly for this calculator rather than pulled from the site’s original curated dataset - open the source and confirm before relying on them.
FAQ
Is vacation pay owed on overtime pay?
It depends on the jurisdiction’s definition of "wages." The Northwest Territories’ Employment Standards Act, for example, explicitly includes overtime pay, commissions and bonuses that form part of your employment agreement in the wages vacation pay is calculated on. Most other provinces use a similarly broad definition of wages, but the exact treatment of overtime, tips and discretionary bonuses varies - check the official source for your province or territory in the table above before assuming overtime is or is not included.
When must vacation pay be paid?
The common Canadian pattern is that vacation pay must be paid before the vacation is taken - Yukon’s Employment Standards Act requires it at least one day before, and the Canada Labour Code has a similar advance-payment rule for federally regulated employers. Some provinces instead allow it to be paid on the regular payday that covers the vacation period. Check your province’s official source for the exact deadline that applies to you.
Is vacation pay paid out when employment ends?
Yes, across every Canadian jurisdiction on this page, any vacation pay you have earned but not yet been paid must be included in your final pay when your employment ends, whether you quit, are let go, or are terminated. The deadline for that final payment varies by jurisdiction - for example, the Northwest Territories gives an employer 10 calendar days and Yukon gives 7 days from your last day worked.
Do part-time and casual employees get vacation pay?
Yes. Vacation pay is calculated as a percentage of the wages you actually earned, not a fixed amount tied to full-time status, so part-time and casual employees earn it proportionally to what they are paid, in every province and territory covered here. Some jurisdictions, like Yukon, note that vacation pay starts accruing from your very first hours worked once a short qualifying period (commonly around 14 days) has passed.
Why is Quebec 4% for some employees and 6% for others?
Quebec’s Act respecting labour standards ties the rate to your length of continuous service: you earn 4% (2 weeks) of vacation pay for your first three years of service, and that rises to 6% (3 weeks) once you pass three completed years. Quebec also has a special rule for your first year: vacation accrues at 1 day for every month worked, up to a maximum of 2 weeks, rather than a full 2 weeks being available immediately.
Why does Saskatchewan show 5.77% and 7.69% instead of round numbers?
Saskatchewan’s Employment Act defines vacation pay as an exact fraction of wages - 3/52 for your first 10 years of employment, and 4/52 after 10 years - rather than a rounded percentage like the 4%, 6% and 8% used elsewhere in Canada. As decimals, 3/52 works out to 5.77% and 4/52 to 7.69%. Saskatchewan also starts employees at 3 weeks of vacation from their first year, the highest starting minimum of any province or territory on this page.
What is the difference between federal and provincial vacation pay rules?
Only employees of federally regulated employers - banks, telecommunications and broadcasting companies, airlines, railways, and interprovincial or international trucking and shipping firms, among a short list of other sectors - follow the Canada Labour Code’s vacation pay rules (4%, 6% after 5 years, 8% after 10 years). Everyone else follows the employment standards act of the province or territory where they actually work, and those rules differ from the federal ones and from each other.
Does vacation entitlement keep building up while I am on a leave like parental or sick leave?
Generally, time spent on a job-protected statutory leave (parental, sick, bereavement and similar leaves) continues to count toward your length of service for the purpose of moving up a vacation-entitlement tier, under most provincial and territorial employment standards acts. Vacation pay itself, however, is calculated as a percentage of wages actually paid to you, so an unpaid leave period does not generate additional vacation pay on its own. Check your jurisdiction’s official source in the table above for how it treats your specific type of leave.