British Columbia: the official figures for 2026
These are all the figures of jurisdictions.british_columbia in the data file: nine loose figures and five tables with 27 rows, each with the statute it comes from, when it took effect and how far it has been verified.
Updated · Figures verified against the statutes of each jurisdiction · see all figures and their sources · what's new
It is one of the 14 pages of the Jurisdictions block, inside official figures. The raw data is in legal-data-2026.json.
What this block holds
British Columbia's figures answer the practical questions at the end of a job: how many weeks of pay your length of service earns, when a layoff stops being temporary, how much vacation pay you're owed, which statutory holidays count and how quickly your last pay must reach you. The Act gives one entitlement for length of service, often called termination pay. There's no separate statutory severance pay in BC.
The source throughout is the Employment Standards Act (BC). Section 63 sets the 3-month qualifying period and the schedule up to 8 weeks, s. 64 covers group terminations, s. 57 annual vacation, s. 18 the final pay deadlines, s. 74 the complaint limit, and s. 1 defines both the 11 statutory holidays and the temporary layoff. Most rows carry the Validity date From 1995-11-01. The holiday count is newer: its current version runs from March 9, 2023.
The weeks, percentages and deadlines hold until the Act is amended, which is exactly what the 2023 date on the holiday count records. Only the calendar moves: Family Day, Good Friday and Thanksgiving Day land on new dates each year.
How to read the table
Read the final pay rows side by side. One says 48 hours; the next says 2 days. Both cite s. 18 and both are Verified, but the note on the second explains that it is the 48-hour rule converted to days so the calculator can add it to a date. The statutory figure is the one in hours. Each column does one job: explain, state, cite, date or grade.
There are three statuses. Verified: read in the Act. Secondary source: derived from official figures, arithmetic shown. Not yet verified: unconfirmed, so no other page relies on it. All nine BC loose figures are Verified. Even so, a figure such as 6 days for final pay after you quit is a rule, not a result. What you're owed turns on your wages, your service and your own facts.
Where the site uses these figures
The British Columbia guide to compensation for length of service is built on this page, and the termination pay calculator runs the s. 63 schedule against your start and end dates. The 48-hour and six-day clocks appear in final pay deadlines across Canada, the holiday list in pay for statutory holidays, province by province, and the 13-in-20-week limit in how temporary layoffs work. Benefits are covered in EI in British Columbia.
Status: Verified = read in the primary source; Secondary source = worked out by us from official figures, arithmetic shown; Not yet verified = not confirmed in the primary source, and so not published as a firm figure on any other page. The detail is in rule three of the methodology.
British Columbia jurisdictions.british_columbia
| Figure | Value | Source | Validity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Under three consecutive months, the Act gives you nothing for length of service.british_columbia.notice.qualifying_service | 3 months | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 63 — Liability resulting from length of service | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
British Columbia has no separate statutory severance pay. Section 63 gives one entitlement, compensation for length of service, which is the same thing as termination pay.british_columbia.severance.exists | No | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 63 — Liability resulting from length of service | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
British columbia · group termination · thresholdbritish_columbia.group_termination.threshold | 50 employees | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 64 — Group terminations | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
The 50 terminations must fall within any two-month period at a single location.british_columbia.group_termination.window | 2 months | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 64 — Group terminations | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
British Columbia calls them statutory holidays. Boxing Day and Easter Monday are not among them, even though the Interpretation Act treats December 26 and Easter Monday as holidays for other purposes.british_columbia.holidays.count | 11 | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 1 — Definitions | From 2023-03-09 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
The Act says 48 hours, not two working days: the clock runs from the moment the employer ends the job.british_columbia.final_pay.hours_after_termination | 48 hours | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 18 — If employment is terminated | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
The Act says 48 hours, not two working days. This figure is the 48-hour rule of section 18(1) expressed in days so the calculator can add it to a date; the statutory figure is final_pay.hours_after_termination.british_columbia.final_pay.days_after_termination | 2 days | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 18 — If employment is terminated | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
British columbia · final pay · days after quitbritish_columbia.final_pay.days_after_quit | 6 days | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 18 — If employment is terminated | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
The clock runs from your last day of employment, not from the day the money should have been paid. Where the job ended after a temporary layoff, the last day of the layoff counts as the last day of employment.british_columbia.complaint.deadline | 6 months | Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 74 — Complaint and time limit | From 1995-11-01 | Verified Reviewed 2026-09-05 |
| Service from years | Service to years | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| 0.25 years | 1 year | 1 week |
| 1 year | 3 years | 2 weeks |
| 3 years | 4 years | 3 weeks |
| 4 years | 5 years | 4 weeks |
| 5 years | 6 years | 5 weeks |
| 6 years | 7 years | 6 weeks |
| 7 years | 8 years | 7 weeks |
| 8 years | — | 8 weeks |
Source: Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 63 — Liability resulting from length of service. Reviewed on September 5, 2026.
| Label | Max value | Max unit | Window value | Window unit | Condition | Source | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic limit | 13 | weeks | 20 | weeks | This is the limit where you have no right of recall. | bc_esa_s1 | in any other case, a layoff of up to 13 weeks in any period of 20 consecutive weeks |
| Recall period | — | — | — | — | Where you have a right of recall, the layoff can run to the end of the recall period instead. The Act fixes no number of weeks for it. | bc_esa_s1 | in the case of an employee who has a right of recall, a layoff that exceeds the specified period within which the employee is entitled to be recalled to employment |
Source: Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 1 — Definitions. Reviewed on September 5, 2026.
| Employees from | Employees to | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 100 | 8 weeks |
| 101 | 300 | 12 weeks |
| 301 | — | 16 weeks |
Source: Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 64 — Group terminations. Reviewed on September 5, 2026.
| Service from years | Service to years | Weeks | Pay percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 years | 1 year | 0 weeks | 4% |
| 1 year | 5 years | 2 weeks | 4% |
| 5 years | — | 3 weeks | 6% |
Source: Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 57 — Entitlement to annual vacation. Reviewed on September 5, 2026.
| Name | Date rule |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1 |
| Family Day | The third Monday of February |
| Good Friday | The Friday before Easter Sunday |
| Victoria Day | The Monday before May 25 |
| Canada Day | July 1 |
| British Columbia Day | The first Monday of August |
| Labour Day | The first Monday of September |
| National Day for Truth and Reconciliation | September 30 |
| Thanksgiving Day | The second Monday of October |
| Remembrance Day | November 11 |
| Christmas Day | December 25 |
Source: Employment Standards Act (BC), s. 1 — Definitions. Reviewed on September 5, 2026.