The third Monday in February is a rather a new holiday in Nova Scotia. As outlined in this CBC article, a different significant Nova Scotian will be celebrated each year. In 2017, we honour the heritage of the Mi’kmaq. (Learn more here – link)
Are you an Employer? A quick note about holiday pay
To circle back to entrepreneurs, many of which are employers, I thought I would close with a quick note on holiday pay given that many of you would have encountered this new holiday this year.
In Nova Scotia there are now 6 holidays for which those who qualify will get holiday pay according to the Labour Standards Code (Nova Scotia). The new February holiday is the newest addition to that list. There are certain criteria which must be met in order to qualify for the holiday pay however, which include that the employee (must be an employee of course) must be entitled to receive pay for at least 15 of the 30 calendar days before the holiday and have worked on his or her last scheduled shift or day before the holiday and on the first scheduled shift or day after the holiday.
Keep in mind, there are some complex rules around qualifying for and calculating holiday pay. For more information you can check this handy guide to the Labour Standards Code for more info: http://novascotia.ca/lae/employmentrights/docs/LabourStandardsCodeGuide.pdf
