How to calculate your Gross Pay
Your gross pay is the amount you have earned before taxes and any deductions (mandatory and voluntary). Your gross pay will include your salary for hours worked along with any applicable entitlements such as overtime, vacation pay, the bilingual bonus etc.
Understanding how your gross pay is calculated in the Public Service can be helpful in confirming the amount to which you are entitled. In order to calculate accurately, you must determine whether you are full-time, part-time, or a student as the calculation used for each type of employment is different.
Links:
- Bilingual Bonus
- Collective Agreements
- Demystifying Your Pay Stubs (New training available through ILMS/Saba)
- iService Glossary
- Part-Time Employee
- Pay Stub (How to read)
- Phoenix Self-Service (CWA)
- Student rates of pay
How to calculate the gross salary for a full-time employee
Consult your Collective Agreement to obtain your annual salary and the number of hours in your normal workweek before calculating. There are three different formulas you may use.
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How to Calculate |
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Bi-weekly pay |
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Daily pay |
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Hourly pay |
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Hourly pay |
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How to calculate the gross salary for a part-time employee
In order to calculate the gross salary for a part-time employee, you must first determine the hourly rate of pay then multiply it by the number of hours you work.
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Type of pay |
How to Calculate |
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Hourly pay |
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Hourly pay |
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To calculate additional entitlements based on salary such as the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays, which provides eligible part-time employees an additional 4.25% of salary for all straight-time hours worked calculate the gross salary for straight time hours and multiply it by 4.25%.
To calculate the bilingual bonus (if applicable) for a part-time employee you would need to divide the $800 annual entitlement by the applicable scheduled hours of work per week, then multiply by the number of hours you work bi-weekly.
Example: a part-time employee with an hourly salary of $25.55 who works 25 hours per week (50 hours bi-weekly) would be entitled to $54.29 on a bi-weekly basis for the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays ($25.55 multiplied by 50 hours multiplied by 4.25% (or 0.0425) = $54.29). The bilingual bonus entitlement would be $20.44 ($800 divided by 1956.6 = .41 per hour multiplied by 50 hours).
How to calculate the gross salary for a student
A quick tip to determine if the hourly rate of pay is correct is to take the hourly rate identified in your letter of offer and multiply this by the hours you work bi-weekly.
Example: a student paid $13.47/hour who works 37.50 hours a week (75 hours bi-weekly) would earn $1,010.25 gross ($13.47 multiplied by 75 hours = $1,010.25).
To calculate additional entitlements based on salary such as the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays, which provides eligible part-time students an additional 4.25% of salary for all straight-time hours worked, calculate the gross salary for straight time hours and multiply it by 4.25%.
Example: a student with an hourly salary of $13.47 who works 15 hours per week (30 hours bi-weekly) would be entitled to $17.17 on a bi-weekly basis for the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays ($13.47 multiplied by 30 multiplied by 4.25% (or 0.0425) = $17.17).
A student is also entitled to Pay in Lieu of Vacation, which provides them with an additional 4% of their total regular and overtime earnings. The 4% on which this entitlement is calculated includes all hours worked as well as any amount paid for the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays.
Example: a student with an hourly salary of $13.47 who works 15 hours per week (30 hours bi-weekly) would be entitled to a bi-weekly gross pay of $404.10 and $17.17 (4.25%) for the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays. In addition, the employee would be entitled to $16.85 for the Pay in Lieu of Vacation, which corresponds to 4% of the gross pay and the Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays.
Gross salary = $404.10 ($13.47 multiplied by 30 hours)
Pay in Lieu of Statutory Holidays = $17.17 ($404.10 multiplied by 4.25%)
Total = $421.27 ($404.10 plus $17.17)
Pay in Lieu of Vacation = $16.85 ($421.27 multiplied by 4% (or 0.04))
I want to know more!
Are you curious about how these factors were determined? Here is some additional information for you.
To calculate the gross pay for a biweekly period, the Treasury Board Secretariat has determined a four-week conversion factor of 13.044. This number takes into consideration that the average year is 365 days, however, every fourth (4th) calendar year is a leap year consisting of 366 calendar days. Therefore, over a four (4) year period there is an average of 365.25 calendar days per year.
Year 1: 365 calendar days
Year 2: 365 calendar days
Year 3: 365 calendar days
Year 4: 366 calendar days
The total number of days over a 4-year period is equal to 1461. The total number of days is divided by 4 to = 365.25 average calendar days per year.
Bi-weekly gross factor of 26.088
The 26.088 bi-weekly pay factor was established by taking into consideration the predetermined average of 365.25 calendar days per year along with fourteen (14) calendar days in a two (2) week pay period. By dividing the average yearly calendar days by fourteen (14), it results in the two (2) week bi‑weekly pay factor of 26.088.
365.25 divided by 14 = 26.088
Average days of work in a calendar year
There is an average of 52.176 weeks in a year (365.25 divided by 7 days/week = 52.176 weeks), employees with a scheduled five (5) days of work per week, work an average of 260.88 days per year.
52.176 multiplied by 5 = 260.88
To determine your daily gross rate of pay, divide your annual salary by 260.88 to obtain the daily rate, and then by the number of days worked.
Average hours of work in a calendar year
The average hours of work in a calendar year is arrived at by multiplying the hours of the scheduled workweek by 52.176, the average number of weeks in a calendar year.
Example 1 (40 hour scheduled workweek)
40 multiplied by 52.176 = 2087.04 hours per year
Example 2 (37.50 hour scheduled workweek)
37.5 multiplied by 52.176 = 1956.6 hours per year
Did you know?
At any time, you can consult the iService glossary, which is a self-service tool organized by topic to aid managers and employees with their compensation related questions. If you are experiencing an issue with your pay, please refer to the ESDC glossary topic Pay Escalation Process to report your pay issue.