Paid vacation at Canadian jobs

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by canarob

I'm in the Ontario provincial public service and we get 5 weeks after 8 years of service, 6 after 16 years of service, and 7 after 24 years.

The Ontario public service has always generally been better than the federal one when it comes to salaries, benefits and vacation.

I don't mind at all because when we have collective bargaining we can always point to the Ontario public service and say to our employer "see, look what they're getting and you want to give us a two year salary freeze?!?"

[lubicon]

I get four weeks but that is what I negotiated when I was recruited. Beginning vacation at our company is three weeks, mainly because we have a field office in Saskatchewan and we pretty much have to match everyone to what those people get. Not sure what we give our US workers.

40 hour week (nominally) with weekends off although I am on call all weekends that I am not on vacation so I end up working a lot more than 40 hours most weeks.

[CityTech]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I'm married to a teacher so I know how it works.

Teachers aren't actually paid for the Summer when they are not working. They are paid by day worked (which includes school days and professional activity days) but their pay is spread over the entire year and paid every two weeks. Basically their annual salary divided by 26 for each payday.

There are around 200 days a year teachers are required to be at work. So if a teacher takes an unpaid day off, he/she loses 1/200 of his/her salary.

That makes more sense.

[CityTech]

At my private sector company (non-unionized, high tech sector):

-Start: 3 weeks
-After 3 years: 4 weeks
-After 9 years: 5 weeks

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by canarob

I'm in the Ontario provincial public service and we get 5 weeks after 8 years of service, 6 after 16 years of service, and 7 after 24 years.

5 weeks after 8 years!? That's insane.

[flar]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

5 weeks after 8 years!? That's insane.

I hope Rob Ford isn't reading this...

[Architype]

It seems that for many younger people, especially those engaged in the gig economy, etc., paid vacations are simply being replaced by periods of unemployment.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Architype

It seems that for many younger people, especially those engaged in the gig economy, etc., paid vacations are simply being replaced by periods of unemployment.

Ugh, that's the worst. You can't enjoy it when it's happening.

[p_xavier]

I get two weeks free xmas time. Up to 6 weeks normal. And 3 weeks "floating", which I can get paid, use as sick days or take as extra vacation time. My work week is 35h which if I work more I get a time bank for extra off time.

[Rollerstud98]

I'm currently an apprentice in refrigeration and a/c. Company I am with is non union and we start at 2 weeks paid with 2 sick days payed per year plus xmas and boxing day payed and I think new years eve and new years day payed. After 5 years bump up to 3 weeks paid time. We get paid pretty well, close to union rates which are currently $49/hr here.

[Vixx]

I recently started a permanent, full time position with the government of Alberta and get 2 paid weeks off with 5 personal days. So below average but I heard from colleagues that its relatively easy to request more unpaid vacation time off if I so choose to do. I can also bank overtime (which there is quite a bit of) and that will carry over for however long I'd like.

As mentioned, government in whatever form (federal, provincial and municipal) is more or less the gold standard but there are many big ifs. The biggest standout being if you are on a term or contract position with the feds, then you are entitled to much less. It is quite difficult to get an indeterminate (permanent) position with the federal government nowadays, hence the high turnover rate in many departments and people constantly scouring for something better.

It is one of the reasons I left the federal government; way to much instability right now and getting an indeterminate position is like winning the lottery in many ways. Only way I would take a term position is if it paid handsomely and was a position which would open many doors, otherwise I'd only consider going back if I got a permanent position.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Loco101

The Ontario public service has always generally been better than the federal one when it comes to salaries, benefits and vacation.

I don't mind at all because when we have collective bargaining we can always point to the Ontario public service and say to our employer "see, look what they're getting and you want to give us a two year salary freeze?!?"

I think Doug Ford is going to be taking that leverage away from you soon.

I got to keep my third week of paid vacation after Doug "For The People" Ford took it away From The People. I forgot to claim the two paid personal leave days though and now I probably can't.

Could be worse, Americans don't get any.

[Doug]

Haven’t worked as an employee in Canada since 2001, but never had more than 2 weeks, any personal days, benefits or pension/company RRSP contributions. That wasn’t uncommon for recent entrants (less than 10 years) in the 90’s. First job in the US had 4 weeks. Self employed now so I can take as many days as I want.

[Northern Light]

The legal minimums have been discussed in the thread already.

There is variance across the country, but it is generally 2 weeks, 3 in Sask, and now 3 wks after 3 years of service in Quebec (for all workers).

Statutory holidays (paid) vary across Canada as well with several western provinces at 10, Ontario at 9, Quebec at 8, and some maritime provinces as low as 6. (Thanksgiving and Vic. day unpaid days off)

What I would like to see is upward harmonization of Stats. at 11 in every province/territory. (all of them paid).

In ON that would add the August Civic Holiday (which is not paid for most retail workers) as well as Remembrance Day.

Quebec would add Family Day or equiv.

etc.

***

In respect of paid vacation, getting the bare minimum to 3 weeks paid seems entirely reasonable to me as Sask has done this without issue for generations.

Also requiring one paid week of personal days (pro-rated for part-timers) and takable as 1/2 days would really help people w/income security issues deal their own illness, that of a dependent relative, or a dental appt. or such.

It would be nice to be more generous than that, but its a good place to start.

***

For those discussing the fact the US has no paid vacation mandate federally or at the state level.........

A couple of interesting developments.

NYC will begin requiring 2 weeks of paid vacation by all employers next year (subject to Council approval, but this is likely as the Mayor is backing this).

Also many US States now have paid sick day mandates, most of which are in the range of 5-8 days per year.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

Statutory holidays (paid) vary across Canada as well with several western provinces at 10, Ontario at 9, Quebec at 8, and some maritime provinces as low as 6. (Thanksgiving and Vic. day unpaid days off)

What I would like to see is upward harmonization of Stats. at 11 in every province/territory. (all of them paid).

I agree. Public and white collar jobs here get:



Plus one civic holiday. In St. John's, that's Royal St. John's Regatta Day (first fine Wednesday in August).

So that's 14 total. If you're in a field that pays say 75K or more per year here, you're definitely getting at least 10 of them, probably 12.

But lots of other workers don't get all of them. Discovery Day almost everything is open, for example. When I worked virtually for an Ontario-based company, but was living here, I didn't get Orangeman's Day.

Every worker should get the same amount of paid, statutory holidays.

[MolsonExport]

While I am entitled to 5 weeks of vacation per year (throwing in that week at Christmas), I rarely take more than 2 weeks off, given the competitive intensity of a research-focused academic career. There is just so much going on from a research, teaching and administrative/service perspective. 60-70 hour weeks are the norm for me. Naturally there are some very positive aspects about such a career, in terms of flexibility if something should come up, the ability to travel (assuming you can attract research funding), and the intrinsic satisfaction derived from contributing to the education of students and to the body of knowledge of one's field.

Doug Ford, mind you, is working overtime to weaken the university system in Ontario, which already is ranked 10th out of 10 provinces for funding. Yes, bottom of the heap. But buck-a-beer is more important, right Doug?

[someone123]

It's odd that a lot of employers will not negotiate paid time off, or say they can't, but there's a wide range that you can get at different employers. If you value having a lot of time off, you can make that a priority in your job hunt.

It's a bit depressing how old these labour laws are and how they are not improving. If anything they are effectively getting worse over time because time off often depends on how long you stay at an employer but people are starting their careers later and aren't able to stay in one job for as long. The "3 weeks after 5 years" type rules used to be meant for 23 year olds. Now they apply to 30 year olds (do your undergrad, do a few years of contract work).

I like the statutory holidays because even hourly workers who can't schedule time off get extra pay. I think that slowly expanding these is a practical way to improve labour standards a little.

One of the recent innovations in the US labour market is employers that offer "unlimited" holidays. Under this regime you don't accrue days and your employer never has to pay them out, and there is still an implicit assumption about how much time off you can take. I am not a big fan of US working culture in general and it's too bad that it has such an impact on Canada. I like that Americans tend to take their jobs seriously (e.g. they don't clock out at 5 p.m. halfway through doing something important), but there is a lot of workaholism and striving that ultimately cannot be rewarding for most people.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

While I am entitled to 5 weeks of vacation per year (throwing in that week at Christmas), I rarely take more than 2 weeks off, given the competitive intensity of a research-focused academic career. There is just so much going on from a research, teaching and administrative/service perspective. 60-70 hour weeks are the norm for me. Naturally there are some very positive aspects about such a career, in terms of flexibility if something should come up, the ability to travel (assuming you can attract research funding), and the intrinsic satisfaction derived from contributing to the education of students and to the body of knowledge of one's field.

Doug Ford, mind you, is working overtime to weaken the university system in Ontario, which already is ranked 10th out of 10 provinces for funding. Yes, bottom of the heap. But buck-a-beer is more important, right Doug?

I'm in a similar boat to you: I get four weeks base vacation, a week in lieu of overtime and we close the office for a week at Christmas. It's one of the things I like about living in Winnipeg compared to major cities like Vancouver and Toronto: the work demands are not as great, although I have to say that Torontonians like to exaggerate how hard they work

[Airboy]

Pretty similar to above, 4 weeks. But though I am salaried I can bank overtime when I am on the road. I just changed to a new firm in the last few weeks and that was part of the negotiations. The last firm I was getting 4 weeks as well but was hourly and banked my overtime as well. Used that for most of my holiday time. However Never took more than a week off at a time. When I left last month I had accumulated 217hr of vacation time and 60 hrs of over time. nice payout last week.

[itom 987]

^

Do you collect interest on your banked overtime hours?

The company I work for had a work/hour bank program but didn't collect any interest and was a way for the company to avoid paying employees overtime. I instructed the accountant to keep me out of it. The Alberta government stopped companies from providing this option about a year ago I believe. I am payed to work by the hour, and whenever I go on vacation I make sure I have enough in the bank to pay for it.