Statutory Holidays and Vacation Pay in Quebec: The LNT Rules

Quebec employees get 7 paid statutory holidays under the Loi sur les normes du travail (LNT), plus an eighth on June 24 for the Fête nationale under its own separate law, and reach 3 weeks of paid vacation after 3 years of continuous service with the same employer, years earlier than most other Canadian provinces.

Information last verified on 2026-09-24. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article covers Quebec's statutory (paid) holidays and vacation entitlements for employees governed by the Loi sur les normes du travail (LNT), RLRQ c N-1.1, plus the separate Loi sur la fête nationale, RLRQ c F-1.1. Quebec's rules use different terms and different thresholds than the rest of Canada, so this page does not borrow structure from Ontario, British Columbia, or Alberta. For a comparison across all 13 jurisdictions, see Statutory Holidays in Canada. For the general Quebec labour standards this page does not cover, see Employment Standards Overview.

The 7 jours fériés, chômés under the LNT (art. 60)

Article 60 of the LNT lists the province's statutory, paid holidays (jours fériés et chômés). The verbatim French text:

« Les jours suivants sont des jours fériés et chômés: 1° le 1er janvier; 2° le Vendredi saint ou le lundi de Pâques, au choix de l'employeur; 3° le lundi qui précède le 25 mai; 4° le 1er juillet ou, si cette date tombe un dimanche, le 2 juillet; 5° le 1er lundi de septembre; 6° le deuxième lundi d'octobre; 7° le 25 décembre. » (LNT, art. 60)

Unofficial English rendering, not a substitute for the French original above:

The following days are statutory, paid holidays: 1) January 1; 2) Good Friday or Easter Monday, at the employer's choice; 3) the Monday preceding May 25; 4) July 1, or July 2 if that date falls on a Sunday; 5) the first Monday of September; 6) the second Monday of October; 7) December 25.

That is 7 holidays under the LNT itself. The Fête nationale on June 24 is not on this list because it is governed by a separate Act, covered next.

Under art. 59.1, this holiday section of the LNT does not apply to an employee whose collective agreement or decree grants at least as many paid days off, not counting the Fête nationale; nor does it apply to another employee in the same establishment who gets at least as many paid days off, not counting the Fête nationale, as that agreement or decree provides.

The Fête nationale (June 24): a separate law, an eighth paid holiday

June 24 is not part of LNT art. 60. It is created by its own statute, the Loi sur la fête nationale, which states:

« Le 24 juin, jour de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, est le jour de la fête nationale. » And: « Le 24 juin est un jour férié et chômé. »

Unofficial English rendering: June 24, the feast day of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, is the national holiday. June 24 is a statutory, paid holiday.

The Act also shifts the day in one specific case:

« Toutefois, lorsque cette date tombe un dimanche, le 25 juin est, à l'égard du salarié pour qui le dimanche n'est pas normalement un jour ouvrable, un jour chômé... »

In plain terms: if June 24 falls on a Sunday, the holiday moves to June 25, but only for an employee whose normal work week does not include Sunday. For everyone else, June 24 itself remains the holiday even when it lands on a Sunday.

Because the Fête nationale sits outside the LNT, adding it to the 7 art. 60 holidays gives a typical Quebec employee 8 paid statutory holidays in total. A source that says Quebec has 7 statutory holidays is describing the LNT list alone and leaving out the Fête nationale.

Not a statutory holiday in Quebec

Because art. 60's list is exhaustive, days absent from it are not statutory holidays in Quebec, even where they are elsewhere in Canada:

• Remembrance Day is not on the LNT list. It is not statutory in Quebec.
• Boxing Day is not on the LNT list. It is not statutory in Quebec.
• National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30) is not on the LNT list. It is not a provincial statutory holiday in Quebec, though it is a paid holiday for federally regulated employees under the Canada Labour Code.
• Quebec has no equivalent of Ontario's or Alberta's February Family Day.

An employer can still choose to give a paid day off on any of these, by contract or collective agreement. Nothing here stops that. It just is not required by the LNT.

Holiday pay: the indemnité formula (art. 62)

For each statutory holiday, the employer owes an indemnité calculated this way:

« Pour chaque jour férié et chômé, l'employeur doit verser à la personne salariée une indemnité égale à 1/20 du salaire gagné au cours des quatre semaines complètes de paie précédant la semaine du congé, sans tenir compte des heures supplémentaires. Toutefois, l'indemnité de la personne salariée rémunérée en tout ou en partie à commission doit être égale à 1/60 du salaire gagné au cours des 12 semaines complètes de paie précédant la semaine du congé. » (LNT, art. 62)

Unofficial English rendering: for each statutory holiday, the employer must pay the employee an indemnité equal to 1/20 of the wages earned during the 4 complete pay weeks preceding the week of the holiday, not counting overtime. An employee paid entirely or partly by commission instead gets an indemnité equal to 1/60 of the wages earned during the 12 complete pay weeks preceding the week of the holiday.

The Fête nationale uses the identical structure under its own Act (art. 4 of the Loi sur la fête nationale): 1/20 of wages over the preceding 4 complete pay weeks, or 1/60 over 12 weeks for a commission employee, measured against the week of June 24 rather than the week of an LNT holiday.

Qualifying for holiday pay: the simplest rule researched (art. 65)

Quebec's qualifying condition has no length-of-service or hours-worked threshold at all:

« Pour bénéficier d'un jour férié et chômé, une personne salariée ne doit pas s'être absentée du travail, sans l'autorisation de l'employeur ou sans une raison valable, le jour ouvrable qui précède ou qui suit ce jour. » (LNT, art. 65)

Unofficial English rendering: to benefit from a statutory holiday, an employee must not have been absent from work, without the employer's authorization or a valid reason, on the working day immediately before or immediately after that holiday.

That is the entire test. A brand-new employee with no accumulated tenure qualifies as long as they showed up, or had an authorized or valid reason not to, on the scheduled working day right before and right after the holiday.

Working on a statutory holiday (art. 63)

An employee required to work on a statutory holiday does not simply get a stacked premium rate on top of the indemnité. Article 63 sets out an either-or obligation instead:

« Si une personne salariée doit travailler l'un des jours indiqués à l'article 60, l'employeur, en plus de verser à la personne salariée occupée ce jour férié le salaire correspondant au travail effectué, doit lui verser l'indemnité prévue par l'article 62 ou lui accorder un congé compensatoire d'une journée. Dans ce cas, le congé doit être pris dans les trois semaines précédant ou suivant ce jour, sauf si une convention collective ou un décret prévoient une période plus longue. » (LNT, art. 63)

Unofficial English rendering: if an employee must work on one of the days listed in art. 60, the employer must pay wages for the work actually performed on that holiday, plus either the art. 62 indemnité or a compensatory day off. If a compensatory day is given, it must be taken within the 3 weeks before or after the holiday, unless a collective agreement or decree sets a longer period.

The LNT's holiday articles do not spell out a separate 1.5 times premium rate for hours worked on the holiday itself. Quebec's structure is wages for hours worked, plus the indemnité or a compensatory day, not a stacked overtime-style multiplier layered on top.

A holiday during vacation or on a non-working day (art. 64)

If a statutory holiday falls while an employee is on vacation, or on a day that would not otherwise be a working day for that employee, Quebec still requires compensation:

« Si une personne salariée est en congé annuel l'un des jours fériés prévus par l'article 60 ou qu'un tel jour ne coïncide pas avec son horaire habituel de travail, l'employeur doit lui verser l'indemnité prévue par l'article 62 ou lui accorder un congé compensatoire d'une journée à une date convenue entre l'employeur et l'intéressé... » (LNT, art. 64)

Unofficial English rendering: if an employee is on annual vacation on one of the art. 60 holidays, or the holiday does not coincide with their usual work schedule, the employer must pay the art. 62 indemnité or grant a compensatory day off on a date agreed between the employer and the employee.

The holiday is not simply lost because it landed on a vacation day or a scheduled day off.

Vacation time: the année de référence model (arts. 66 to 69)

Quebec measures vacation entitlement against a reference year (année de référence), which by default runs from May 1 of the prior year to April 30 of the current year, unless an agreement or decree sets a different date:

« L'année de référence est une période de douze mois consécutifs pendant laquelle une personne salariée acquiert progressivement le droit au congé annuel. Cette période s'étend du 1er mai de l'année précédente au 30 avril de l'année en cours, sauf si une convention ou un décret fixent une autre date... » (LNT, art. 66)

This is a fixed calendar reference year by default, not a personal anniversary date tied to each employee's hire date.

Vacation time then builds in tiers:

Article 69's verbatim text: « Une personne salariée qui, à la fin d'une année de référence, justifie de trois ans de service continu chez le même employeur, a droit à un congé annuel d'une durée minimale de trois semaines continues. »

Reaching 3 paid weeks at 3 years is the headline difference between Quebec and Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, all of which generally require 5 years of service for a third week.

Splitting vacation and notice of the date (arts. 71, 71.1, 72)

An employee can ask to split their vacation into 2 periods:

« Le congé annuel peut être fractionné en deux périodes si la personne salariée en fait la demande. Cependant, l'employeur peut refuser cette demande s'il ferme son établissement pour une période égale ou supérieure à celle du congé annuel de la personne salariée... Le congé annuel peut aussi être fractionné en plus de deux périodes à la demande de la personne salariée si l'employeur y consent. Le congé dont la durée est d'une semaine ou moins ne peut être fractionné. » (LNT, art. 71)

In short: the employee can request a 2-way split, which the employer can refuse only if the workplace closes for a period at least as long as the employee's vacation; a split into more than 2 periods needs the employer's consent; and a vacation of 1 week or less cannot be split at all. A collective agreement or decree can set different splitting rules (art. 71.1).

Employees also have a specific right to advance notice of their vacation date:

« Une personne salariée a le droit de connaître la date de son congé annuel au moins quatre semaines à l'avance. » (LNT, art. 72)

That is at least 4 weeks' notice of the vacation date.

No cash-out of vacation, with one narrow exception (art. 73)

Quebec generally prohibits paying money instead of giving the vacation time itself:

« Il est interdit à l'employeur de remplacer le congé visé dans les articles 67, 68 et 69 par une indemnité compensatoire, sauf si une disposition particulière est prévue dans une convention collective ou un décret. À la demande de la personne salariée, la troisième semaine de congé peut cependant être remplacée par une indemnité compensatrice si l'établissement ferme ses portes pour deux semaines à l'occasion du congé annuel. » (LNT, art. 73)

Unofficial English rendering: an employer is prohibited from substituting a compensatory indemnité for the vacation described in arts. 67, 68, and 69, unless a collective agreement or decree specifically provides for it. At the employee's request, the third week of vacation can be paid out instead of taken if the establishment closes for 2 weeks for the annual vacation.

Outside that one narrow exception and any collective agreement carve-out, Quebec vacation is meant to be taken as time off, not converted to cash.

Vacation pay: 4% and 6% (art. 74)

Vacation pay in Quebec is calculated as a percentage of gross wages earned during the reference year, keyed to the same tiers as the time entitlement:

« L'indemnité afférente au congé annuel de la personne salariée visée dans les articles 67 et 68 est égale à 4% du salaire brut de la personne salariée durant l'année de référence. Dans le cas de la personne salariée visée dans l'article 69, l'indemnité est égale à 6% du salaire brut de la personne salariée durant l'année de référence. » (LNT, art. 74)

In plain terms: 4% of gross wages for employees on the under-1-year or 1-year-plus tiers (arts. 67 and 68), rising to 6% once the employee reaches the 3-year, 3-week tier (art. 69). This is the same 4%/6% split used in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, but keyed to Quebec's 3-year threshold instead of a 5-year one.

Quebec vacation pay is generally paid as a lump sum before the vacation begins, or according to the employee's regular pay schedule, under art. 75, with an exception for seasonal or otherwise intermittent employers that allows paying it as it is earned instead.

Vacation pay if employment ends before the vacation is taken (art. 76)

If employment ends before an employee has used all the vacation they were entitled to, Quebec requires a 2-part payout:

« Lorsque le contrat de travail est résilié avant qu'une personne salariée ait pu bénéficier de la totalité du congé auquel elle avait droit, elle doit recevoir en plus de l'indemnité compensatrice déterminée conformément à l'article 74 et afférente au congé dont elle n'a pas bénéficié, une indemnité égale à 4% ou 6%, selon le cas, du salaire brut gagné pendant l'année de référence en cours. » (LNT, art. 76)

In plain terms: on termination, the employee is owed both the already-accrued art. 74 indemnité for vacation not yet taken, and a further 4% or 6% indemnité, whichever tier applies, on wages earned in the current, partial reference year. This differs in structure from Ontario's or British Columbia's termination formulas, so a Quebec employee should not assume the same payout mechanics apply; for what an employer more broadly owes at termination across Canada, see Final Paycheck Deadlines in Canada.

Where to raise a problem

Quebec's labour standards, including the holiday and vacation rules above, are administered by the CNESST (Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail). An employee who believes an employer has not followed the LNT's holiday or vacation rules can raise the issue with the CNESST. Under LNT art. 102, an employee who believes a right under the Act has been infringed may send a written complaint to the CNESST. Under art. 115, a civil action brought under the Act is prescribed one year from each due date (à compter de chaque échéance).

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about statutory holidays and vacation entitlements under Quebec's Loi sur les normes du travail, RLRQ c N-1.1, and the Loi sur la fête nationale, RLRQ c F-1.1, current as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Where French statutory text is quoted, the English text is an unofficial rendering for reference only and is not a substitute for the French original. Consult the CNESST or a lawyer licensed in Quebec for advice on your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many statutory holidays does Quebec have?

Quebec's Loi sur les normes du travail lists 7 statutory holidays in art. 60: New Year's Day, either Good Friday or Easter Monday (the employer's choice), the Monday preceding May 25, July 1 (or July 2 if July 1 falls on a Sunday), the first Monday of September, the second Monday of October, and December 25. A separate law, the Loi sur la fête nationale, adds an eighth paid holiday on June 24. Most Quebec employees get 8 paid holidays a year in total, not 7.

Who decides between Good Friday and Easter Monday in Quebec, the employer or the employee?

The employer. LNT art. 60(2) gives only one of the two days as the paid statutory holiday, and the text specifies the choice belongs to the employer (au choix de l'employeur), not the employee. This differs from how the two days are handled elsewhere in Canada.

How is Quebec statutory holiday pay calculated?

Under LNT art. 62, the indemnité for a statutory holiday equals 1/20 of the wages the employee earned in the 4 complete pay weeks before the week of the holiday, not counting overtime. An employee paid all or partly by commission instead gets 1/60 of the wages earned over the 12 complete pay weeks before the holiday week. The Fête nationale on June 24 uses the same 1/20 or 1/60 formula under its own Act.

Do I have to work a set amount of time before I qualify for a paid holiday in Quebec?

No. LNT art. 65 sets no tenure or hours-worked threshold. The only condition is that the employee must not have been absent from work, without the employer's authorization or a valid reason, on the working day immediately before or immediately after the holiday. This is one of the lightest qualifying rules of any Canadian jurisdiction.

Does Quebec pay extra for working on a statutory holiday?

Quebec's LNT does not describe a separate stacked premium rate for hours worked on a statutory holiday in the way some other jurisdictions do. Under art. 63, an employee who works the holiday gets paid wages for the hours actually worked, plus either the indemnité described above or a compensatory day off to be taken within 3 weeks before or after the holiday.

When does vacation reach 3 weeks in Quebec?

At 3 years of continuous service with the same employer, under LNT art. 69. That is earlier than Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and most other Canadian jurisdictions, which generally require 5 years for a third week. Quebec employees with 1 to 3 years of service can also ask for an extra week of unpaid vacation under art. 68.1, but that week cannot be split and cannot be cashed out.

What percentage is vacation pay in Quebec?

4% of gross wages earned during the reference year for employees on the under-1-year or 1-to-3-year tiers (LNT arts. 67 and 68), rising to 6% once an employee reaches the 3-year, 3-week tier under art. 69. This is set out in art. 74.

Can I get paid out for unused vacation instead of taking the time off in Quebec?

Generally no. LNT art. 73 prohibits substituting an indemnité for the vacation described in arts. 67, 68, and 69, unless a collective agreement or decree specifically allows it. The one exception written into the Act: at the employee's request, the third week of vacation can be paid out instead of taken if the employer closes its establishment for 2 weeks for the annual vacation period.