Statutory Holidays and Vacation Pay in Manitoba: A Complete Guide

Manitoba has 9 general holidays a year, an employee qualifies for holiday pay by simply showing up for their scheduled shift before and after the holiday with no minimum-service requirement, and unpaid vacation or holiday pay can be recovered going back 22 months, far longer than the 6-month deadline to file the complaint itself.

Information last verified on 2026-09-25. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article covers general holidays and vacation entitlement under Manitoba's Employment Standards Code, C.C.S.M. c. E110, and Remembrance Day rules under Manitoba's Remembrance Day Act, C.C.S.M. c. R80, for employees covered by those Acts. It does not cover federally regulated workplaces, which follow the Canada Labour Code instead; see Federally Regulated Employees in Canada for that separate regime. For how Manitoba compares to other provinces, see Statutory Holidays in Canada.

The 9 General Holidays in Manitoba

Section 21(1) of the Code defines "general holiday" as a closed list: New Year's Day, Louis Riel Day (the third Monday in February), Good Friday, Victoria Day, July 1, Labour Day, Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day, plus any further day designated by regulation. The statute's own drafting labels are worth noting: it calls the July holiday simply "July 1," not "Canada Day," and calls September 30 "Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation)."

What Is Not a General Holiday in Manitoba

Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Terry Fox Day, and Boxing Day are absent from the s.21(1) list and carry no statutory entitlement to pay or time off. The Manitoba government's own guidance states plainly that Easter Sunday, Terry Fox Day, and Boxing Day do not have to be paid because they are not general holidays. An employer may still choose to give a paid day for any of these, but nothing in the Code requires it.

A day off for a general holiday is also always given in addition to annual vacation, never absorbed into it (s.21(2)). Section 34(2) confirms this from the vacation side: annual vacation "does not include a general holiday that falls on a day during the employee's vacation and that the employee is entitled to."

Who Qualifies for Holiday Pay

Unlike some provinces, Manitoba sets no minimum length of service. Section 22(1) makes an employee eligible for holiday pay unless they are absent, without the employer's consent, on their first scheduled workday before or after the holiday, or unless the holiday falls on a day they would normally work and they are scheduled but absent without consent on that day itself. Section 22(2) deems consent given where the absence is on an entitled or employer-approved leave, or because the employee is ill.

How Holiday Pay Is Calculated: Two Tracks

Manitoba's formula is not a single flat percentage. Section 23(1) sets the default for employees with a regular schedule and wage: holiday pay must not be less than the employee's wage for regular hours on a normal workday. Section 23(2) supplies a fallback formula only for employees whose hours or wage vary enough that a normal day's pay cannot be determined: 5% of total wages, excluding overtime, earned in the four weeks immediately before the holiday. The two formulas are not options an employer picks; the variable-wage formula applies only when a regular day's wage genuinely cannot be calculated.

Construction employees are on an entirely different model under s.30. Instead of holiday pay tied to each individual holiday, an employer pays the overtime wage rate for any hours actually worked on a general holiday, and separately, before year end or on termination, a lump sum equal to 4% of the employee's annual wages, excluding overtime, as holiday pay for all general holidays that year, whether or not the employee worked on any of them.

Working the Holiday

Section 25(1) sets the default: an employee who works a general holiday is paid the overtime wage rate for hours worked, on top of holiday pay for that day. Employers in nine listed kinds of business may instead pay the employee for the hours worked as if it were not a general holiday, and give a day off with holiday pay on another normal workday within 30 days of the holiday with at least two days' notice, or later if the employee agrees, but before the employee's next annual vacation: a continuously operating business, a climate-controlled agricultural business, a seasonal business, a place of amusement, a gasoline service station, a hospital, hotel or restaurant, and domestic service (s.25(2)-(3)). A seasonal business is defined as one that suspends operations for at least three weeks a year owing to market demand fluctuation or a crop's ripening cycle.

When a Holiday Falls on a Non-Workday

If a general holiday falls on a day that would not normally be a workday for the employee, s.26(2) requires the employer to give a day off with holiday pay on a normal workday, before the employee's next annual vacation or at a later time the employee agrees to. If the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, that day off with holiday pay must be the employee's first workday after the holiday. If employment ends before a day off owed under s.25(2) or s.26(2) is taken, s.27 requires the employer to pay the holiday pay along with the other wages due on termination.

Substituting Another Day for a Holiday

Section 28(1) allows an employer to substitute another day for a general holiday under a collective agreement, or with the written agreement of a majority of employees where there is no bargaining agent, provided the substituted day falls within 12 months of the original holiday. Section 28(4) creates one express carve-out: this substitution mechanism does not apply to Orange Shirt Day. Manitoba employers cannot substitute away the September 30 holiday.

If Employment Ends Near a Holiday

Section 29 protects an employee whose employment is terminated, other than by their own resignation, less than four weeks before a general holiday: they remain entitled to holiday pay for that holiday, calculated as 5% of total wages, excluding overtime, for the four weeks before the holiday, payable within the same deadline that applies to final wages generally.

Vacation Time in Manitoba

Section 34 entitles an employee to at least two weeks of vacation after each of the first four years of employment, rising to three weeks after five consecutive years and each year after that. An employer must give the vacation no later than 10 months after the employee becomes entitled to it (s.35), and generally cannot require less than a full week to be taken at a time (s.37), except where the business customarily shuts down for an extended period each year (s.38).

Vacation Pay: The 4% and 6% Rules, and When It Is Due

Section 39(2) sets vacation pay at 2% of the year's wages for each week of vacation entitlement, which works out to 4% for the two-week tier and 6% for the three-week tier. A separate rule not always covered elsewhere: under s.39(3), the employer must pay the vacation allowance no later than the last working day before the vacation begins, unless the employee agrees to a different arrangement.

Paying a bonus or other monetary benefit does not affect an employee's entitlement to vacation or vacation allowance (s.40). Separately, receiving more vacation or vacation allowance than required in a previous year does not reduce the current year's entitlement, except for vacation or allowance received in advance of being entitled to it (s.41). An employer may also set a common vacation-anniversary date for a group of employees instead of using each employee's individual hire date, subject to the director's oversight, with new employees who have not completed a full year receiving a pro-rated entitlement (s.42). No part of an employee's annual vacation can be counted toward a required notice-of-termination period unless the employee is the one giving notice and the employer agrees, and paying vacation allowance does not reduce any other amount owed on termination (s.43).

Vacation Pay When Employment Ends

Section 44 sets the amount owed when employment ends before an employee becomes entitled to their next annual vacation: 4% of wages earned since the last vacation entitlement date for an employee under five consecutive years of service, plus an additional 2% for an employee who has completed five consecutive years. That amount is a component of "wages" under the Code's general final-pay deadline in s.86(1)(b), which requires payment within 10 working days after termination. The two provisions work together: s.44 sets the amount, s.86 sets the deadline.

Filing a Complaint: Two Different Clocks

Section 87 gives an employee six months from the wage payment due date to file a complaint over unpaid wages, which include holiday pay and vacation allowance. Employees covered by a collective agreement cannot file this kind of complaint and use their grievance process instead (s.92(2)). The director may decline to investigate where the employee is already pursuing the matter elsewhere, has settled, or the complaint is frivolous or vexatious (s.93).

The six-month figure is only the filing deadline, not the recovery window. Section 96(2) caps ordinary unpaid wages an employment standards officer can order recovered at those due within the six months before the complaint was filed, but sets a separate, much longer look-back specifically for unpaid vacation allowance and unpaid general-holiday wages: 22 months before the complaint was filed. An employee who files within six months of a missed vacation payment can still recover holiday and vacation pay owed from far earlier than that, up to nearly two years back. An officer's order can also add administrative costs of $100 or 10% of the amount ordered, whichever is greater, capped at $1,000 (s.96(1)(b)).

Remembrance Day: A Separate Statute

Remembrance Day sits outside the Employment Standards Code entirely, governed by its own Remembrance Day Act. Section 3.1(1) bars a retail business from admitting the public or selling goods or services between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Six categories are exempted under s.3.1(2): living accommodation or prepared-meal sales where that is the business's principal line, professional health services, veterinary services, drugs, medicines, surgical appliances or infant formula, gasoline and related products, and parts or services for emergency vehicle repairs; licensed liquor, gaming, and cannabis premises are separately exempted under s.3.1(3). Performances, and preparation for one, are also barred during the same 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. window (s.3.2).

Outside retail, the rule is stricter. Section 2 provides that no person carrying on or engaged in an industry shall on Remembrance Day sell or rent property, or "for gain or reward act as an employer in the industry." The Act defines industry to exclude retail business, farming, and performances. Section 3(1) lists the operations to which s.2 does not apply, including hospitals, hotels and restaurants, continuous operations, transportation of goods or passengers, emergency repairs, utilities, newspapers, and telecommunications and broadcasting. Subject to the emergency-permit provision in s.5, an employer in an excepted industry must relieve employees from duty and suspend operations for three minutes at one minute before 11 o'clock in the morning (s.4).

The statutory right to refuse to work on Remembrance Day is specific to employees in a retail business establishment (s.3.3); most non-retail employers cannot act as employers that day at all under s.2. The refusal right borrows the Code's Sunday-refusal mechanism (s.81): the employee must give at least 14 days' notice before the day, or as much notice as is reasonable if scheduled less than 14 days out, and the employer cannot retaliate for the refusal. An employee required to work is paid the holiday pay they would receive if Remembrance Day were a general holiday under ss.22-23, plus the overtime wage rate applied to whichever is greater of the hours actually worked or half a normal workday (s.3.4).

Outside Remembrance Day, Manitoba has no general statute requiring stores to close on any of its 9 general holidays: the Retail Businesses Holiday Closing Act was repealed effective December 12, 2020, according to the Manitoba government's shopping-hours fact sheet. Whether a business opens on New Year's Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas is an employer choice, governed only by the pay rules above.

Manitoba's 2026 and 2027 Holiday Dates

For how holiday and vacation pay interact with weekly hours, see Overtime and Hours of Work in Canada. For what an employer owes on a final paycheque beyond vacation allowance, see Final Paycheque Deadlines in Canada and Severance Pay in Manitoba.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about general holidays and vacation entitlement under Manitoba's Employment Standards Code, C.C.S.M. c. E110, and Remembrance Day rules under Manitoba's Remembrance Day Act, C.C.S.M. c. R80, current as of September 2026. It is not legal advice and does not cover every industry exception in the Code. Consult the Government of Manitoba or a lawyer licensed in Manitoba for advice on your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many statutory holidays does Manitoba have?

Manitoba has 9 general holidays under s.21(1) of the Employment Standards Code: New Year's Day, Louis Riel Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, July 1, Labour Day, Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Terry Fox Day, and Boxing Day are not general holidays.

Do I need to work a certain amount of time before I qualify for holiday pay in Manitoba?

No. Manitoba sets no minimum-service requirement. Under s.22(1) you qualify unless you are absent without your employer's consent on your first scheduled workday before or after the holiday, or absent without consent when scheduled to work on the holiday itself.

How is holiday pay calculated in Manitoba?

Most employees with a regular schedule and wage get one regular day's pay (s.23(1)). Employees whose hours or wage vary get 5% of total wages, excluding overtime, from the four weeks before the holiday (s.23(2)). Construction employees are on a different model entirely: a lump-sum 4% of annual wages paid once a year or at termination under s.30.

How long do I have to claim unpaid vacation pay in Manitoba?

You must file a complaint within 6 months of the wage payment due date (s.87). That is the filing deadline, not the recovery limit: once filed, an employment standards officer can order recovery of unpaid vacation allowance and general-holiday pay going back 22 months (s.96(2)), far longer than the 6-month cap on ordinary wages.

Are stores required to close on statutory holidays in Manitoba?

Only on Remembrance Day, which is not one of the 9 general holidays. The Remembrance Day Act requires retail businesses to stay closed to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with six named exceptions, and bars most non-retail industries from operating as an employer that day. Manitoba has no closing law for its 9 general holidays; whether a business opens is an employer choice.

Can I refuse to work on Remembrance Day in Manitoba?

The right to refuse under s.3.3 of the Remembrance Day Act belongs to employees in a retail business establishment, who must give at least 14 days' notice, borrowing the Employment Standards Code's Sunday-refusal mechanism. Outside retail, s.2 of the Act bars most industries from acting as an employer for gain that day at all, unless the business falls under a s.3(1) exception such as hospitals, hotels and restaurants, or continuous operations.

How much vacation time and pay am I owed in Manitoba?

Two weeks after each of the first four years of employment, rising to three weeks after five consecutive years (s.34). Vacation pay is 2% of the year's wages per week of entitlement, so 4% for two weeks and 6% for three weeks (s.39(2)), generally payable no later than the last working day before your vacation starts.