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Labour Day
Monday 7 September 2026
19 days
after the last review of this page
If it falls on a day you normally work and you do not work it, the day pays your average daily wage — the four weeks before it, divided by the days worked. The formula is below, with a worked example you can put your own numbers into.
Alberta has nine general holidays, and the pay for one of them is your average daily wage: the wages from the four weeks behind you, divided by the days you worked in them. Alberta says general holiday where other provinces say statutory holiday; the days are the same idea.
Last reviewed · maintained by Ihor Bezrukavnyk · how we calculate
These are the conditions Alberta puts on the day. They sit on the shifts around the holiday and on your time with the employer — not on how many hours you worked in the week itself.
Some industries operate under their own Alberta regulations, and a collective agreement can set better terms than the Code. Where both apply, the better term governs.
The formula
wages in the 4 weeks before the general holiday ÷ number of days worked in those 4 weeks
Overtime pay stays out of the base. Every Canadian jurisdiction excludes it from the wages the average is taken from, so a heavy overtime week before the holiday does not lift the day’s pay. Averaging a gross figure that still has premium hours in it overstates the holiday every time.
Worked example
The same wages spread over 22 shorter days instead of 18 give $147.27 — the average moves with the shape of the window, not only with the money in it.
Overtime is not in the wage base
Overtime pay does not count toward the total. The average daily wage is meant to describe an ordinary day of work, so the premium half of a long week is left out of it entirely.
This holds in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta alike, and it is the line worth checking first. If a general holiday pay figure looks high after a heavy week, check whether overtime was folded into the base it came from.
| Holiday | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1 January 2026 | Thursday |
| Alberta Family Day | 16 February 2026 | Monday |
| Good Friday | 3 April 2026 | Friday |
| Victoria Day | 18 May 2026 | Monday |
| Canada Day | 1 July 2026 | Wednesday |
| Labour Daynext | 7 September 2026 | Monday |
| Thanksgiving Day | 12 October 2026 | Monday |
| Remembrance Day | 11 November 2026 | Wednesday |
| Christmas Day | 25 December 2026 | Friday |
No 2026 date falls on a Saturday or Sunday. A holiday can still land on a day you personally do not work. Alberta separates a general holiday that falls on a regular day of work from one that does not. If the day is not one you normally work and you do not work it, no average daily wage is paid for it; if you do work it, the hours are paid at 1.5× the regular rate.
The employer pays one of two combinations: the average daily wage plus 1.5× the regular rate for every hour worked, or regular wages for those hours plus another day off later paid at the average daily wage. On the example above the first option is $180.00 plus $288.00 for an eight-hour shift: $468.00.
Hours worked on the holiday are paid at 1.5× the regular rate — $36.00 an hour in the example — and no average daily wage is added on top.
Where both combinations are open, the choice belongs to the employer, not to the calculation. On a pay stub it shows up either as a holiday-pay line beside a premium line, or as a plain day of wages with a day off booked for later.
Whether hours worked on a holiday also count toward the week’s overtime threshold is a separate question with a separate answer in each province. Check it against the overtime rules for Alberta rather than assuming it either way.
Take the wages earned in the four weeks before the general holiday and divide by the number of days worked in that window. Eighteen days worked and $3,240.00 in wages give an average daily wage of $180.00. That figure is what a qualifying employee is paid for a general holiday that falls on a regular day of work.
An employee who has worked for the same employer at least 30 workdays in the 12 months before the general holiday. Being absent without the employer's consent on the last regular workday before the holiday or the first one after it, or not working the holiday when scheduled to, removes the pay for that day.
No. Overtime pay is excluded from the wage total, so the four weeks that earned you the most can still produce an ordinary average daily wage. The figure is designed to describe a normal day of work rather than a long one.
If the holiday falls on a regular day of work, the employer pays either the average daily wage plus 1.5× for each hour worked, or regular wages for those hours plus a day off later at the average daily wage. If it is not a regular day of work, the hours are paid at 1.5× with no average daily wage on top. An eight-hour shift at $24.00 is $288.00 of premium pay.
No. Alberta's list runs to nine days. Heritage Day in August, Easter Monday, Boxing Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are optional: an employer may observe them, and an employer that does is expected to apply the general holiday rules to that day.
Because it is an average over the days you worked in a four-week window, and both parts move. A stretch with short shifts or missed days pulls it down, and Alberta also lets the employer measure the four weeks either immediately before the holiday or ending with the last pay period, which can shift the result.
A holiday sits inside a week that has its own rules — Alberta pays overtime after 44h in a week and after 8h in a day. Overtally runs that side of the arithmetic, hour by hour, and shows every line behind the total.
Every figure on this page traces to the statute or agency page above. If one is out of date, tell us — corrections ship the same week.
Overtally computes what you should be paid before taxes. It does not calculate take-home pay, withholding or deductions, and it is not legal advice — it is your own record and your own estimate.