Issue:
Currently in Saskatchewan, if an employer or their employee(s) wants to observe a public holiday on a different day, the employer needs to apply for a special permit (a Move to a Public Holiday Permit Application) and submit it to the Director of Employment Standards for approval.
In other provinces, an employer and their employee(s) can simply agree to observe a public holiday on a different day without obtaining a permit.
Action:
After dozens of phone calls from frustrated small business owners, CFIB decided to ask them how important it was to scrap this dumb rule.
April-May, 2017: We thank the 583 business owners who responded to CFIB’s Mandate #266 survey.
Survey results revealed a strong majority (71%) of you believe that an employer and their employee(s) should be allowed to agree to observe a public holiday on a different day without obtaining a permit. You told us that employees and employers should be allowed to work out a schedule that works best for both parties. Only 17 per cent were opposed to this idea (see Figure 1).