ted34

Hi All,

I Just want to throw this out there;

I'm in Toronto and been in my current job almost for 2 years, it's a company of 12 including the bosses and when I started in April 2013 they said that I was not entitled to any Paid vacation time in my first 12 months with the company and then in my second year I would get 10 days with pay and so on.

We have just had a new guy start and I was filling him in on company policy and he says that the above statement is illegal, what has been your experience with vacation time in the first year of a new job?

Cheers

Ted

scrubbedexpat091

Here is the law on the topic for Ontario, the rules will vary slightly by province.

Vacation | Ministry of Labour

"Employees are entitled to two weeks of vacation time after each 12-month vacation entitlement year. Ordinarily, a vacation entitlement year is a recurring 12-month period beginning on the date of hire. Where the employer has established an alternative vacation entitlement year that begins on a date other than the date of hire, the employee is also entitled to a pro-rated amount of vacation time for the period (called a "stub period") that precedes the alternative vacation entitlement year.

Vacation pay must be at least four per cent of the "gross" wages (excluding any vacation pay) earned in the 12-month vacation entitlement year or stub period (where that applies).

An employee's contract of employment or a collective agreement may provide a greater right or benefit with respect to vacation time and/or pay.

An employee who does not complete either the full vacation entitlement year or the stub period (if any) does not qualify for vacation time under the ESA. However, employees earn vacation pay as they earn wages. So if an employee works even just one hour, he or she is still entitled to at least four percent of the hour's wages as vacation pay."

Jericho79

Slightly off topic, but any employer who wont give FT employees paid vacation in the first 12 months is probably not worth working for.

what_if

I'm about to start my 3rd year and still no paid holiday but that is the beauty of a zero hour contract, the employer gets all the benefits.

TheAwesomeMatt

You should be at least accruing 4% in vacation with each pay. Do you get vacation paid out on your payslip?

Aviator

'Vacation time' is an anomaly in employment law. What each employee gets is an accrual of 4% (under 5 years of service) of their pay as 'holiday pay' from the first hour they work. It is 6% for 5 years+.

An employee may elect to have this pay withheld by the employer, paid out when they take vacation or elect to have the holiday pay paid out on each paycheque. This is at the employee's discretion, however this election must be given to the employer in writing.

An employer should (according to employment law) not be paying out vacation pay on each paycheque without the written agreement of the employee. Of course there is no money coming in for time off if money paid out on each cheque.

An employees paycheque must (required by law) show all pay, hours, deductions and accrued holiday pay.

This is for all employees, no matter if they are salary, hourly, zero hour etc. It does not apply to self employed contractors, if they truly are self employed (under CRA rules).

dishwashing

Work for government - you can get up to 9 weeks paid leave.

scrubbedexpat091

Depends how high the ladder you are in the company, if your at the bottom your not likely to get any vacation outside the min. the government requires.

In hotel industry where I have spent most of my working life, you get what the government say's you are to get and nothing else for the most part, haven't come across a generous hotel yet who gave more, even at the union shop hotel I was at, nothing the first year and then just the bare minimum after that.

A lot of people have no negotiating powers in their job.

Flossie and Jim

Once you've been there about 22 years!

I work in municipal government and we all have to work for a year before we get the 10 days at the end of our first year - we don't get to accrue on a monthly basis like a lot of places do now.

scrubbedexpat091

Well most in the private sector will never see 9 weeks at any point, so even if it takes 22 years still pretty good, even better if one can actually have a job that will keep them employed that long since private sector will find a way to drop you long before 22 years.

dishwashing

One of the guys I know had 9 weeks as a starting position....