It appears that not everyone is to be considered “family” on February 18th. And, that could be creating some nasty family feuds.

Family Day, to be observed on the third Monday of February, gives Ontario workers a total of 9 statutory holidays per year, putting the province on par with Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? When Premier Dalton McGuinty proclaimed that Family Day would become the 9th paid holiday under the Employment Standards Act of 2000, the assumption was that everyone would be entitled to an additional statutory holiday. But that is not the case. The provincial Employment Standards Act guarantees workers a day off or holiday pay for working on public holidays. However, if an employee already receives more than 9 statutory holiday days off, then the employer is not legally obliged to give employees the day off.

Currently more than 70% of multi-provincial employers already offer 11 or more days off per year and 13% offer 14 or more paid days off per year, in addition to regular vacation time. City of Toronto labour contracts already give workers more than 9 paid days off per year. The Toronto city council then proceeded to create a tempest in a teapot by passing a motion that added Family Day to the benefits of all city workers, except for the police. The Toronto police now have 10 holidays in addition to 2 floating days. Therefore under the law, none of these employees qualify for Family Day. But the fly in the ointment is that indoor and outdoor Toronto city workers have 11 holidays in addition to 2 floating days and they will be taking Family Day off. You can be sure that the unions will be making Family Day part of their issues come the next negotiations of the collective agreements.

Family Day is going to cost us all in the pocket. If snow removal is required on February 18th this year we are going to have to pay overtime wages for city employees to do their jobs. It is estimated that it will cost the city of Toronto 5 million dollars to give city and transit workers the day off. Small and medium sized business will also no doubt feel the pinch of having to foot the bill for an extra holiday in the year. Is all of this really worth it for Family Day? Or was it just a smoke and mirrors ploy by Premier McGuinty to increase his “likeability factor”?