Just looking for a bit of advice on statuatory holiday entitlement, ie. if you work on stat holidays are you entitled to "lieu days".

Long story short, I am having to work xmas day and new years day, amongst others, my employer is saying that as I am salaried I will get no recompense, I asked for an extra day off some other time instead (ie a lieu day), and I think they are still laughing! They basically said if I dont like it, leave.

All other salaried staff are off these days, and only hourly paid staff are working, they all get double time and a half. I feel that they are using my "niavity" being new, and they know I need the job.

Any advise would be good, or should I just shut up and put up.

A quick search on Google came up with this.

http://www.workrights.ca/Work+Time/j...olidays_NS.htm

Hope it helps.
Steve

Thanks for that, It will definitely give me a bit more clout when I kick up more of a fuss.

Thanks again

Of course you must be given time off in future so as to compensate. If this is the attitude of those you work for then you have to ask yourself why you even bother working there.

I got similar treatement when I moved over to the UK from Canada. It's really quite frustrating when you think your being taken advantage of but can't prove it cos you dont know the local laws.

Your in Nova Scotia so this might not help (dunno if its extends out of Quebec) but there is a government regulatory body called Normes Du Travail that regulates & enforces minimum employment laws, if you google them you might be able to find out some info to support your case.

I'm pretty sure there are basic country-wide standard employment laws, then there are add on detail laws by each province.

I will tell you this though, I worked as a teen at an employer who pulled the same kind of stunt your employer seems to be trying to do, worked loads of overtime with only standard half hour lunch & 2x15 min breaks (talking 14-16 hour shifts) and who had us working on the holidays as it was "the busiest time" for the food industry. Owner got done by an employee complaining (and subsequently after a few more complaints) getting investigated by the Normes Du Travail. He was forced to recompense his employees time & a half (for overtime) and componsate for breaks not taken etc... within a year (about 5 months after I quit working there) he went bankrupt and screwed all the employees over 2 months salary.

Be civil, but if you suspect something dodgy is going on, start looking for something else discreetly is my advice.

it is a good job, suits my situation at present, as I my wife & I are setting up our own business on the side. With the info Steve passed on I think I will get them to see my way of thinking.

Lets hope so anyway.

Pointing out your rights and entitlements to a canadian employer seems a pretty good way to generate a lot of free time for yourself in the future

Under the law even as an overtime exempt salary employee you are still due a lueu day. The law makes no destinction between salaried and hourly as far as stat holidays go.


If you work in a "continuous operation" they are fully within their rights not to give you extra time (time and a half) off.


http://www.gov.ns.ca/enla/employment...holidaypay.asp

"When the Employee Works in a Continuous Operation
Employees who work in a continuous operation are paid for holidays in a different way.

A continuous operation is:

any industrial establishment in which production continues without stopping
any service that runs trucks and other vehicles
any telephone or other communications service
any service or production in which employees work normally on Sundays or public holidays

In a continuous operation, the employer can pay for holidays worked in one of two ways:

A: According to the calculation already described (see below) or
B:by paying straight time for the hours worked and giving the employee another day off with pay "



For regular type employment you could argue for time and a half in leue, but would probably lose.

"An employee who works on a holiday and who is qualified to be paid holiday pay is entitled to receive both of the following:

the amount the employee would have normally received for that day

one and a half times the employee's regular rate of wages for the number of hours worked on that holiday "

because that 2.5 times pay is if the day is not made up in leue elsewhere as far as I can tell.


Just dont show up on Xmas day, and go find a better employer.

Just thought of something else, I used to work for a company that had all its employees register as 'self employed' and then sign a contract. This basically meant they didnt have to deal with any of the government (fed or prov) taxes and as you were working under contract, they didn't have to give any time off for stat holidays or pay any extra (was written into the contract). These guys were about as shady as you come which is why I decided to find work elsewhere rather promptly, I'm not a fan of forced 'self employment' as taxes are complicated & expensive enough with an employers help let alone throwing THAT into the equation!

I've worked on that basis since 1985. Everyone connected with our firm is paid the same way, $n/hr, no deductions, no benefits, nothing else. I've slowly come to the view that it's wrong to be paid when not working, such as for stat days or vacation.

Yeah but if we were all cyper gimps or pimps working on hourly rates that would make lawyers blush then we'd all probably agree with you as frankly we could make enough to enjoy the odd day off 'for free'.

Only some gimps make that sort of money. However we all enjoy freedom from employment legislation and relative freedom from taxation. The latter is nice, I certainly wouldn't give it up for a paid Christmas.

Thats illegal, and the MoL and CRA will take action if its brought to their attention.

In Ontario at least the general rule acording the the MoL peeps we dealt with is that if someone is telling you what to do, and when and where to do it, or is providing the tools to do it, then you are an employee, regardless of any paper you signed to the contrary, and your employer has certain obligations regarding vacation, sick pay, at source deductions etc etc.

If its win win for the employer and employee (tax breaks etc), then there is no motivation to do that...but thats not necessarily the case.

My wifes one time (not) boss got thumped with a hefty fine and some other penalties for that crap.

No, but you can afford to take the time off of your choice, be it a stat holiday or any other day of the week based upon your income which I am sure a) is helped by your relative freedom from taxation and b) you thoroughly deserve. The idle reader of your posts on the subject might form a view of the canadian workplace as some place of penal servitude that I believe would be somewhat out of touch with reality.

Obviously, after twenty odd years of working this way with up to 100 people at a time, I disagree with the idea that it's necessarily illegal.

Granted. Yes, if you're being paid half as much again per hour as an employee and you have a considerable tax discount, you should be able to pay for vacation time. People clamour to work on a contract basis, it's not imposed on them. Interestingly though very few contractors ever take vacation and most are in arrears on the little tax they do have to pay. They're all cowboys, that's the trouble.