Potential Alberta stat holiday for the Queen: Global News Interview

Interview Summary

With news of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing and that of a state funeral, the Canadian federal government announced a national day of mourning for the country. Many businesses and employees are now questioning whether or not this will mean a statutory holiday in Alberta. Who decides whether or not employees will have the day off?

Karen Tereposky, an Alberta employment lawyer and Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke to Global News’ Lauren Pullen to answer this question and what it could mean for Albertan employees.

Interview Notes

“It’s so quick and some of the concerns with this day coming up out of nowhere is no one is prepared,” says Tereposky.

Tereposky goes on to explain employers would have had less than a week to determine what to do with their staff and figure out what arrangements would have to be made as a result.

“We found out that it’s really only going to apply to federal government workers so it’s not going to apply to federal workers in general. As far as provinces, it’s sort of been left, at this point, for each province to decide if they’re going to have it apply to their workers,” Tereposky clarifies in speaking with Global News.

“Since provincial responsibility is over employment, the federal government can’t tell the provinces what to do in that regard.”