Stat holidays around Christmas

[DCMom]

I am wondering how payments should work around Christmas Holidays.

My policies state that on stat holidays I am not open but do require payment. These days include Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day. I have booked off my holiday time (my holidays are without pay) so that my last day of providing care is Friday, December 21 and first day back is Wednesday, January 3.

I seem to recall something from the regular 'working world' that you need to work before and/or after stat holidays to get paid for those days? Would I get payment for Christmas Day and Boxing day even though I am not working the days before or after? Would I get payment for New Year's day since I'm working the day before (though not after)?

Help! TIA

[sunnydays]

It all depends on what you have on your contract. You are not in an employee/employer relationship...you make the rules and as long as parents sign the contract, that means they agree to it. If you have it in your contract that you are paid for those stats, then you are paid for them.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Agree with Sunnydays ~ go with your contract cause it is irrelevant what the ESA act states cause it does not apply to us ... we make our own 'act' to protect us in the way of the contract

I am closed for the break too but my clients all gave me their posted cheques for this month and they include the payment for the stats over the closure period.

[jodaycare]

I am paid for all stats even if my vacation week falls during that time. I also put Christmas Eve and Easter Monday in my contract as paid days. So over Christmas, I am closed from Dec 24 till Jan 1 and am paid for 4 four of those days.

[Momof4]

DCMom, I worked outside the home all my life until I opened my daycare and you are right. There is a law that you have to be at work to be paid for your stats. For instance if you called in sick the day before Good Friday you would not get paid for the stat.

However, we design our contracts and I learned from others to name the list 'closed paid daycare days' instead of just stats because I added Christmas Eve Day and Easter Monday as paid closed days at my daycare. I also have a statement that if one of any of the days on the list falls on the weekend the next working days will be taken in lieu.

[Momof4]

One more thing, next year I'll be going to Florida for the last week of March. Good Friday falls on the last day of March so I've advised my clients that I will be using that paid closed day on the Friday before my vacation week because that's the day Westjet flies out of my city to Florida and I'll only have one unpaid week and will still get paid for my stat day instead of just losing out on it.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Not that it affects us because we are self employed but just wanted to clarify in case anyone reading the thread is actually 'employed' and has a boss trying to tell them they do not get paid for Stats because they did not 'work' before or after the stat cause that is no longer current practice cause sadly there are many out there

However they have amended the language to say 'scheduled' shift .... so if you were scheduled to be on vacation over a stat holiday as long as you worked the last day before your vacation and the first day back from your vacation you would get paid 'something' based on the 20 days of work prior to the Stat /divided by 20 to determine your Stat payment. Plus even if you DID NOT work either the last or the first day back as long as you had a REASONABLE reason you would still be required to pay if you could provide documentation ... so if you were sick the Friday before your vacation started or had a family death at the end of your vacation and missed your first day back they would still have to pay you for the stat based on your entitlement of hours worked equation ... basically now a days it is just EASIEST for employers to pay everyone these days cause fighting people over 'reasonable' can lead to issue with discrimination and other Labor relations nightmares and well almost any Dr will right a 'so and so was sick' note for the fee

For those employed people who like to read up on their rights

Qualifying for Public Holiday Entitlements

Generally, employees qualify for the public holiday entitlement unless they:

• fail without reasonable cause to work all of their last regularly scheduled day of work before the public holiday or all of their first regularly scheduled day of work after the public holiday (this is called the "Last and First Rule");
  or
• fail without reasonable cause to work their entire shift on the public holiday if they agreed to or were required to work that day.

Most employees who fail to qualify for the public holiday entitlement are still entitled to be paid premium pay for every hour they work on the holiday.

Qualified employees can be full time, part time, permanent or on contract. They can also be students. It does not matter how recently they were hired, or how many days they worked before the public holiday.

The "Last and First Rule"

The "last regularly scheduled day of work before the public holiday" and the "first regularly scheduled day of work after the public holiday" do not have to be the days right before and right after the holiday.

For example, an employee might not be scheduled to work the day right before or after the holiday. As long as the employee works all of his or her last regularly scheduled shift before the holiday and all of the first one after it, or provides reasonable cause for not working either of those days, he or she meets this qualifying criterion.

Reasonable Cause

An employee is generally considered to have "reasonable cause" for missing work when something beyond his or her control prevents the employee from working. Examples include, but are not limited to: absences related to personal emergency leave (i.e. personal illness, injury or medical emergency, and the death, illness, injury, medical emergency or urgent matter relating to certain family members and dependent relatives) as well as absences for family medical leave.

Employees are responsible for showing that they had reasonable cause for staying away from work. If they can do so, they still qualify for public holiday entitlements.

https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english...icholidays.php

Also another misconception out there still is that you have to have worked for the company for 3 or 6 months in order to be get paid ~ that is no longer true either. Or that part time and contract employees are not entitled to Public Holiday pay ... Unless specifically listed in the 'exempt from rule' every employee on the schedule whose worked at least 1 of the 20 days leading up to a stat is suppose to get paid for stats it just would be 'prorated' based on the hours they have worked in the 20 days prior divided by 20 to determine the 'public holiday pay' ... so it might only be a fraction of a full days pay but hey every $ helps a household