Nova Scotia Vacation Pay Calculator

The government website contradicts the statute

Section 32(1)(c) of the Labour Standards Code requires payment of at least four per cent, or "where the employee has been in the employ of the employer for more than eight years", at least six per cent. Section 32(1)(a) uses the identical phrase for the third week of vacation time.

Holiday pay counts in Nova Scotia

Section 2(u) defines wages as salaries, commissions and compensation in any form measured by time or piece, and expressly includes compensation under ss. 37, 40, 41, 46, 50, 57, 58, 72 and 74 — which pulls in general holiday pay (ss. 37, 40 and 41) and termination-notice obligations.

Excluded: vacation pay and pay in lieu of vacation under ss. 32, 33 or 34, and gratuities. Overtime is not named and falls within compensation measured by time, so it counts.

Section 35(1) adds the cash value of board or lodging provided by the employer to the wage base — though s. 35(2) removes that rule for the construction industry.

This makes Nova Scotia the opposite of its neighbour: New Brunswick expressly excludes public holiday pay, Nova Scotia expressly includes it.

Part-time employees can waive the time — never the pay

Section 33(1) lets an employee who worked less than ninety per cent of the regular working hours during a twelve-month period waive the entitlement to vacation leave. The waiver must be in writing.

Section 33(2) then requires the employer to pay the 4% or 6% anyway, within one month of the twelve-month period ending. The leave is waivable; the money never is.

Where neither s. 32 nor s. 33 applies, s. 34 requires payment of 4% (or 6% above eight years) of wages for the time employed, within ten days after employment terminates.

Your vacation pay outranks the bank

Section 36 gives Nova Scotia employees the strongest statutory protection for accruing vacation pay in the country. It is held in trust, it is a charge on the employer's assets with priority over all other claims, and the employee is deemed to hold a mortgage on those assets, enforceable by foreclosure, ranking ahead of all other liens and charges including the Crown's.

Against that, the claim window is the shortest of the four Atlantic provinces. Section 21(3D) bars the Director from making an order unless the failure to comply occurred within the six months before the complaint or inquiry, and s. 23(4) applies the same bar to the Board. There is no longer window for vacation pay in Nova Scotia — I checked specifically, because three other provinces have one.

Vacation must be given no later than ten months after the twelve-month period ends, as an unbroken period, and vacation pay is due at least one day before it starts.