Vacation Leave

This directive covers vacation entitlements for managers and opted out or excluded employees. It describes how vacation leave and supplement are scheduled and earned, including how they are earned and calculated when employees work only partial months or are on paid or unpaid leaves. It also covers combining vacation leave and a leave of absence, pay out of vacation leave, and recovery of vacation supplement.

Entitlements for bargaining unit employees are contained in the Collective Agreement.

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Scheduling Vacation Leave

The deputy head approves managers’ vacation, vacation supplement, or a payout of vacation or vacation supplement.

Except for the vacation grant in the first calendar year of employment, employees normally take vacation leave in the year after they earn it. The deputy head may approve vacation to be taken in the year it is earned. In this case, the number of days taken will be deducted from the following year’s entitlement.

Employees may split their vacation leave into separate periods, but should take at least one consecutive period of five work days in each calendar year and must take a total of at least two weeks (three weeks with five or more years of service) of vacation leave each year. Employees should schedule vacation leave so that they do not have more than two years of vacation entitlements outstanding.

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Earning Vacation Leave

In the first calendar year employees are employed, they will earn 1 1/4 work days of vacation time for each month they work. If they have enough prior service to qualify, they may earn vacation time at a higher rate. The Public Service Commissioner may authorize a higher earning rate for managers in special recruitment circumstances.

The following table sets out the amount of vacation time employees earn in each calendar year after completing specific months or years of service as of December 31. It also sets out the rate at which employees earn vacation time for each full calendar month they work.

Table: Calculating Vacation Leave

Service Vacation Time Earning Rate
12 months 15 work days 1 1/4 days
8 years 20 work days 1 2/3 days
16 years 25 work days 2 1/12 days
25 years 30 work days 2 1/2 days

First Year Vacation Grant

In addition, an employee hired into a permanent or temporary salaried position shall receive a vacation grant equal to one (1) work day vacation for each calendar month of service to be completed in that first calendar year. First year vacation granted shall be taken by the employee no later than the end of the second calendar year of employment. Should an employee terminate employment prior to the end of the first calendar year and have taken more vacation than they had earned, the employee will be required to pay back the unearned amount at the same rate that it was paid to the employee.

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Earning Vacation Supplement

Management employees earn a vacation supplement at the rate of 5/12 work days for each full calendar month, because they often work extra hours without additional compensation.

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Recovery of Vacation Supplement

Managers who are paid out for (or who take) the vacation supplement and who subsequently resign or are dismissed will pay back, at the same salary rate they were paid out, the part of the vacation supplement they had not yet earned.

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Calculating Vacation Leave for Partial Months

If an employee works for only part of a month, first year vacation grant, vacation and vacation supplement entitlements will be calculated as follows:

  • If an employee begins employment on or before the 15th day of a month and works the rest of the month, that month will count as a full calendar month.
  • If an employee is terminated on or after the 15th day of a month and worked from the first day of that month, that month will count as a full calendar month.
  • If calculating the period of vacation leave for a year results in a fraction of a half day or less, the fraction will be rounded to the next half day. If a fraction of more than a half day results, the fraction will be rounded to the next full day. This does not apply to vacation pay out.

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Earning Vacation Leave During Paid or Unpaid Leaves

An employee continues to earn vacation leave (and vacation supplement if the employee is a manager) while on the following paid or unpaid leaves:

  • military leave
  • financially assisted staff development leave
  • for the first 44 consecutive work days of sick leave, supplemental unemployment benefits, or workers’ compensation leave
  • for the first 22 consecutive work days of all other leaves of absence

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Combining Vacation Leave and a Leave of Absence

If an employee is authorized to combine a leave of absence with a period of vacation leave, the vacation leave will be considered to precede the leave of absence.

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Pay Out of Vacation Leave

Managers will be paid out for vacation leave and vacation supplement when one of the following conditions applies:

  • their employment terminates
  • their outstanding vacation leave and vacation supplement exceeds two years of entitlements, in which case they will be paid out at fiscal year-end
  • they request pay out and obtain their deputy head’s approval (they may request pay out for any amount, provided that they keep two weeks (three weeks with five or more years of service) of entitlements to be taken as leave in the vacation year)

Opted Out and Excluded Employees in Schedule 1 Part 2-A and Schedule 1 Part 2-B will be paid out for vacation leave when one of the following conditions applies:

  • the employee's employment terminates; or
  • the employee requests pay out and receives the approval of the deputy head (they may request pay out for any amount, provided that the employee keeps 2 weeks (three weeks with five or more years of service) of entitlements to be taken as leave in the vacation year).

All vacation leaves and supplements will be paid out at an employee’s regular rate of pay, as follows:

  • at the employee’s salary rate (including acting pay) at the time the leave is paid out (the rate will not be adjusted to include retroactive salary adjustments)
  • in the case of retirement or death, the pay out will include any retroactive salary increases

The entitlement amount paid out is never rounded up.

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About this Directive

Authority:   Public Service Employment Regulation
Application:   Organizations Under the Public Service Act
Effective Date:   1 October 2007
Contact:   Labour Relations

For inquiries regarding your specific entitlements as displayed in MyAGent, please contact your Ministry Human Resource/Payroll Office.

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