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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-09-19
Concept: Statutory Holiday Look-Back Periods (CAN)

Concept: Statutory Holiday Look-Back Periods (CAN)

Context
Statutory holiday pay is based on the total of time-based and non-time-based earnings that preceded the holiday.
To determine the total time-based earnings, Workday:
  • Uses the statutory holiday look-back periods.
  • Uses a reference point to define a time boundary for earnings, which come through
    Time Tracking
    .
Statutory guidelines for look-back periods vary across provinces.
Example:
Province
Period Time Span
Period Pay Factor
Quebec
Looks back 4 weeks preceding the week of the holiday.
1/20th of worker earnings subject to statutory holiday pay (5% of earnings).
British Columbia
Looks back 30 days preceding the holiday day.
An average daily wage, derived from worker earnings subject to holiday divided by the number of days worked (Earnings / Days Worked).
To support your compliance with the Province of Alberta legislation, we provide the
Override Statutory Holiday Data
 task. You can use this task to override an existing look-back reference point. Then, select either the preceding holiday or preceding week of holiday.
Look-Back Periods Non-Time-Based Earnings
For non-time-based earnings, the look-back periods don't necessarily align with pay periods and, depending on the province, can span pay periods.
Workday provides 2 balance periods that you can use to configure a pay balance:
Balance Period
Description
Statutory Holiday Look Back Period - Period End Date
Period end dates that occur during the look-back period.
Statutory Holiday Look Back Period - Period Payment Date
Period payment dates that occur during the look-back period.
Prior Holidays and Paid Time Off
Prior holidays can occur in the look-back period for the statutory holiday that you’re calculating.
To include the prior Statutory Holiday hours in the look back period in time tracking, create a Prior Statutory Holiday time tag. The tag is included in the Time Tags when creating the Statutory Holiday Time block.
For provinces requiring prior Statutory Holiday pay inclusion, enter the Prior Stat Holiday time tag in the
Worked Hours Calculation Tags
 prompt on the
Statutory Holiday Configuration
 task.
Some provinces require that you include paid time off in the look-back period. To include employee paid time off in the statutory holiday earning:
  • Enter the time off in hours, not days.
  • Configure the calculation tag for the employee time off plan to the statutory holiday configuration. Use the
    Worked Hours Calculation Tags
     prompt on the
    Create Statutory Holiday Configuration
     task.
Example: Determining Earnings During a Look-Back Period for Quebec
Look-back periods enable you to determine all time-based earnings for a worker in a given province.
A worker has these time-based earnings during the look-back period:
Hours
Type
Hourly Rate
Total
112.5
Regular
15
1,687.50
37.5
Shift 1
20
750.00
10
Overtime
22.50
225.00
2,662.50
The worker receives additional vacation pay as a percentage of earnings at 6%: 2,662.50 * 6% = 159.75.
The worker receives additional 159.75 in vacation pay, resulting in total time-based earnings of 2,822.25.
Per Service Canada guidelines for Quebec, statutory holiday pay is 1/20th of the total time-based earnings: 2,822.25 * 0.05 = 141.11.
The worker payslip reflects the additional earnings of 141.11 for statutory holiday pay, resulting in total earnings of 2,963.36.