Quebec Vacation Pay Calculator

Six per cent at three years, not five

Section 74 of the Act respecting labour standards sets the indemnity at 4% of gross wages for the reference year, and 6% for an employee covered by s. 69 — that is, credited with three years of uninterrupted service at the end of the reference year.

If you cross the three-year mark during the reference year, the 6% applies to the whole year's gross wages, not only the part earned after the anniversary.

Quebec counts your tips. No other province does.

Section 50 begins by protecting gratuities: a tip belongs to the employee of right and must not be mingled with wages. But the fifth paragraph of s. 50 carves out indemnity calculations.

It requires the indemnities in ss. 58, 62, 74, 76, 79.7, 79.16, 80, 81, 81.1, 83 and 84.0.13 to be computed "on the basis of the wages increased by the tips attributed or reported". Section 74 is the annual leave indemnity and s. 76 is the termination payout — both are on that list.

Ontario does exactly the reverse. Its s. 1(1)(d) removes "tips or other gratuities" from wages outright. A server earning $30,000 in wages and $18,000 in declared tips is owed vacation pay on $48,000 in Gatineau and on $30,000 in Ottawa.

This applies to employees in the sectors defined by the Regulation respecting labour standards — hotels, licensed premises, restaurants other than counter-service, and meal delivery.

The third week can arrive before the sixth per cent

Quebec's vacation time entitlement has three steps, and one of them is unusual:

• Under one year — one working day per month of service, to a maximum of two weeks (s. 67).
• One year — two consecutive weeks (s. 68).
• Three years — three consecutive weeks (s. 69).

Between one and three years, s. 68.1 lets you request an additional week without pay to bring your time off up to three weeks. That week cannot be divided and cannot be replaced by a compensatory indemnity. It is time, not money.

The reference year runs from 1 May to 30 April by default (s. 66), unless an agreement or decree fixes another start date. Leave must be taken within twelve months after the reference year ends (s. 70), and you are entitled to know the dates at least four weeks in advance (s. 72).

You generally cannot cash out vacation in Quebec

Section 73 is a prohibition, not a permission: employers are forbidden from replacing annual leave under ss. 67, 68 or 69 with a compensatory indemnity, unless a collective agreement or decree provides for it.

The single narrow exception is in the same section — where the establishment closes for two weeks for the annual holiday, the employee may request that the third week be replaced by an indemnity.

On termination, s. 76 pays two things together: the indemnity attaching to leave already earned but not taken, plus 4% or 6% of the gross wages earned during the current, incomplete reference year. Both are computed on tip-increased wages for tipped employees.

A civil action is prescribed by one year from each due date (s. 115), which is a rolling per-payment limitation rather than a single cutoff — materially shorter than Ontario's flat two years. A CNESST notice of inquiry suspends prescription for six months (s. 116).