Ontario Statutory Holidays 2027: Dates and Holiday Pay Rules

Ontario's public holidays for 2027 and 2028

* Falls on a weekend: see the substitute-day rules below.

Still to come in 2026: Christmas Day on Friday, December 25, 2026 and Boxing Day on Saturday, December 26, 2026.

Four of the nine move each year by rule: Family Day is the third Monday of February, Victoria Day the Monday before May 25, Labour Day the first Monday of September and Thanksgiving the second Monday of October. Good Friday follows Easter. The other four are fixed dates, so they sometimes land on a weekend: in 2027, both Christmas and Boxing Day do, and in 2028 New Year's Day and Canada Day fall on Saturdays.

Days that are not public holidays in Ontario

The ESA guide names four days that many people assume are holidays but that the Act does not require employers to give:

An employer can still give these days off with pay, and many collective agreements do. When it does, the day is governed by your contract, not by the ESA's public holiday rules.

Who qualifies

Almost every employee covered by the ESA qualifies, whether full-time, part-time, permanent or on a term contract. There is no minimum length of service: someone hired the week before a holiday can be entitled to it.

The one test is the "last and first" rule. You lose the holiday if, without reasonable cause, you miss your last regularly scheduled day of work before the holiday or your first regularly scheduled day after it. You also lose it if you agreed to work the holiday and skip the whole shift without reasonable cause.

Employees of federally regulated businesses in Ontario, such as banks, airlines, telecoms and Canada Post, follow the Canada Labour Code instead. Its ten general holidays include Remembrance Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation but not Family Day.

How public holiday pay is calculated

Public holiday pay is the regular wages you earned in the four work weeks before the work week of the holiday, plus the vacation pay payable for those weeks, divided by 20. Overtime, premium pay, and termination or severance pay are left out. Vacation pay counts only if it was payable for those weeks, which depends on how your employer pays it.

Because the formula divides by 20 (four five-day weeks), it gives an average day's pay for someone working full weeks, and proportionally less for part-time or newly hired staff.

Working on a public holiday

Most employees can be asked to work a public holiday only if they agree, in writing or electronically. If you agree, you get one of two options:

1. your public holiday pay plus premium pay of 1.5 times your regular rate for every hour you work that day, with no day off later; or
2. your regular wages for the hours worked, plus a substitute day off paid at public holiday pay.

Hours paid at the premium rate do not count toward overtime. Hotels, motels, tourist resorts, restaurants, taverns, hospitals, nursing homes and continuous operations can require staff to work a holiday that falls on a normal working day without their consent, but then the employer chooses which of the two options applies. Most retail employees can refuse to work a public holiday, and can withdraw an earlier agreement by giving at least 48 hours' notice before the shift.

When a holiday falls on a weekend or during vacation

If a public holiday lands on a day you would not normally work, or while you are on vacation, you don't lose it. You are entitled to a substitute day off paid at public holiday pay, or, if you agree in writing or electronically, simply the public holiday pay for the day.

• The substitute day must be scheduled within three months of the holiday, or up to 12 months with your written or electronic agreement.
• Before the holiday, the employer has to give you a written statement naming the holiday, the substitute date and the date the statement was issued.
• If your job ends before you take the substitute day, the holiday pay is owed with your final wages.

This affects Boxing Day on Sat, Dec 26, 2026, Christmas and Boxing Day on Sat, Dec 25, 2027 and Sun, Dec 26, 2027, and New Year's Day and Canada Day in 2028. Many employers name the next Monday as the substitute day, but the ESA lets them choose another day within the limits above.

Common mistakes

• Counting Remembrance Day or the Civic Holiday. Neither is an ESA public holiday, even though banks and Canada Post close.
• Paying "time and a half" with no holiday pay. Under option 1 the employee gets both the 1.5 premium for hours worked and a full day of public holiday pay.
• Skipping part-timers. Part-time and new employees qualify; their holiday pay is simply smaller.
• Forgetting the written statement for a substitute day, or scheduling it more than three months out without the employee's agreement.

This page summarizes the Ontario government's guide; it is not legal advice. The Ministry of Labour's Employment Standards Information Centre and the ESA guide on ontario.ca have the details for special cases. For the other provinces, see statutory holidays in Canada.