The Ontario government has announced that it will reverse a Bill 148 amendment on the calculation of public holiday pay. The Bill 148 amendment, which came into force on January 1, 2018, was highly criticized by employers as costly and confusing. For example, the Bill 148 calculation required the payment of a full day of pay to any part-time worker who worked just one day in the pay period preceding the holiday. If that part-time worker had two part-time jobs and worked one day at each job in the preceding pay period, he or she would receive two days of pay for one public holiday.
Ontario Regulation 375/18 will revert to the prior calculation for public holiday pay in Ontario for provincially regulated employers. In other words, public holiday pay will be calculated as the total amount of regular wages earned and vacation pay payable to the employee in the four work weeks before the work week in which the public holiday occurred, divided by 20. This Regulation does not come into force until July 1, 2018, however. The current rules will apply to the Victoria Day weekend.
Ontario Regulation 375/18 is also considered to be an interim measure and is scheduled to be revoked on December 31, 2019, ostensibly to give the Ontario government more time to conduct a review of the public holiday system following feedback and discussions with stakeholders.
Please see our November 2017 Blakes Bulletin: Ontario Passes Bill 148, Rolls Out Major Changes to Workplace Laws for additional information on Bill 148 amendments.
