A recent Alberta Employment Standards Appeals decision is a good reminder that informal HR practices don’t age well, especially when it comes to vacation, holidays, and salaried employees.
In McGonigle v Ocean Fluids Ltd. (2026 ABESAB 3), the Appeal Body had to untangle years of timesheets, handwritten notes, and assumptions about what “time off” actually meant. While the employer avoided additional vacation pay liability, the case exposes common mistakes that put employers at real risk.
What Happened
The employee worked for the employer for more than six years as a salaried “Main Shop Hand” in a 24/7 operation serving the oilfield industry. Work was irregular. Some days were long, some days were short, and sometimes there was no work at all.
There was no signed employment agreement, no written vacation policy, and no clear process for booking or approving time off. Instead, the employer allowed employees to informally book days off by writing notes such as “off” or “booked off” on their timesheets.
For years, the employee recorded time this way. From his perspective, many of these days were simply personal days or rest days, not vacation. From the employer’s perspective, any booked-off weekday was treated as vacation, regardless of how it was labelled.
When the employment ended in 2024, the employee filed an Employment Standards complaint. The Employment Standards Officer ordered the employer to pay termination pay, overtime, wages, and holiday pay, but concluded the employee had already been paid more vacation pay than he was entitled to.
The employee appealed.
The Core Dispute
The appeal focused on two issues:
- Vacation pay – Did the employee actually take vacation, or were many of his “booked off” days something else?
- General holiday pay – Did the employer properly compensate the employee for work performed on statutory holidays?
Vacation Pay: Informality Cuts Both Ways
The employee argued that he only took vacation for two short, clearly marked periods. Everything else, he said, was simply time away from work, what he considered his “weekends,” even when those days fell on weekdays.
The Appeal Body rejected that argument.
The evidence showed that in September 2022, management specifically told the employee that all time off going forward would be treated as vacation and would need approval. After that meeting, the employee continued booking days off in much the same way.
The Appeal Body found that once the employee knew how the employer was treating booked-off days, it was not reasonable for him to assume those days were something other than vacation.
However, the employer didn’t get a free pass.
The Board carefully reviewed the timesheets and found that:
- Weekends should not be counted as vacation days, even in a 24/7 operation.
- On several disputed weekdays, the employee’s own timesheets showing hours worked were more reliable than payroll notes made by someone who did not supervise his work.
- The employer failed to clearly record vacation on pay stubs, as required under the Code.
After correcting for those errors, the Appeal Body still concluded the employee had taken at least 33 vacation days. As a result, no additional vacation pay was owed.
General Holiday Pay: Record-Keeping Matters
The employee also claimed he worked on three statutory holidays without being properly paid.
Under Alberta law, employers can either:
- Pay premium holiday pay, or
- Provide a day off in lieu, plus regular wages.
The Appeal Body confirmed that employee consent is not required to give a day off in lieu — but the employer must be able to show that it actually happened.
For two of the three holidays, the employer could point to timesheets showing the employee received another day off. For one holiday, however, the records didn’t line up. The employee’s timesheets showed he worked the holiday and the supposed “day in lieu.”
Because the employer couldn’t prove otherwise, the Board ordered additional holiday pay for that day.
Key Lessons for Employers
This case highlights several risks that are common in small and mid-sized workplaces:
- Informal time-off practices create confusion
If there’s no written policy, employees and employers may have completely different understandings of what counts as vacation.
- Salaried employees still need clear tracking
Being “on salary” doesn’t eliminate the need for accurate records of vacation and holidays.
- Timesheets matter — a lot
When employers don’t keep clear records, decision-makers often rely on the employee’s version of events.
- Policy changes must be followed through
Once management clarified that booked-off time would be treated as vacation, it helped the case of the employer, but only because it was documented.
- Holiday pay errors are easy to make and hard to defend
If you offer days off in lieu, make sure they’re clearly recorded and communicated.
Final Word
Ocean Fluids ultimately avoided paying additional vacation pay, but only after years of inconsistent practices were dissected line by line.
The bigger takeaway for employers is simple: clarity protects everyone. Written agreements, clear vacation policies, and proper payroll records are far cheaper than defending a dispute years later.
