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Treefrog Handbook

Public Holidays (Stat Days)

We take holidays when the government says we should. And we additionally celebrate Frogness.

The following Ontario statutory holidays are observed by the company:

  • New Years Day (January 1st)
  • Family Day (Third Monday in February)
  • Good Friday (Friday before Easter)
  • Victoria Day (Monday before May 25th)
  • Canada Day (July 1st, except if on a Sunday)
  • Simcoe Day (First Monday in August)*
  • Labour Day (First Monday in September)
  • Thanksgiving Day (Second Monday in October)
  • Christmas Day (December 25)
  • Boxing Day (December 26)

*Technically, Simcoe Day is a Civic holiday, not a statutory holiday. However, Simcoe Day is observed by Treefrog. We do not observe a second day during the Easter Holidays.

Requests for time off for observances of other religious holidays must be submitted in writing. Approval is at the discretion of Treefrog.

Public Holiday Switching

With previous consent from your Pod Leader, you may take an alternate day than the formal statutory holiday that is more convenient for you providing it does not compromise productivity. This day should be within 5 working days of the statutory holiday.

  • If a holiday is in the middle of the week, Pod members can internally agree to split the holiday and take lieu days within the same week providing there is always someone standing guard in the pod for each official working day. Please note, the holiday does not need to be covered.*

  • The Walk the Parade Rule - Remember, Statutory holidays are not vacation days. Statutory holidays are recognized by government for celebration of specific events, usually defined by culture. Just because you do not celebrate a certain recognized religious or political holiday, does not mean it is “fair” to get alternative time off - You are not walking in the parade with your community. It is not “free time”. It is “time to support the religious or cultural event” as demanded by the regulations of the state.

The “Short Week” Rule

During “short weeks” caused by Public Holidays, regular Pod non-production activities are to be minimized whereever possible, to ensure billable obligations can continue to be met. This includes, for example, Pod Training, Project Meetings, etc.

As a result of this rule, all meetings before a short week should take into account the proceeding week as well into their assignment and management.

International Holidays

We observe Canadian & Provincial Holidays only.

Other Holidays or Special Requests

Request for other religious holidays may be made in writing and submitted to the CEO for approval. For effiency and collaboration, this information will be made available to all the Frogs.

Christmas

We have all seen the transformation of the Christmas party to the Holiday party, the Christmas tree to the “Holiday Tree”, and then the slow decline to ignoring Christmas altogether. We have been programmed to be politically correct and wish our colleagues Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas or not recognize it at all.

Sadly, with all this political correctness, some of us have missed the real lessons and some of us have grown resentful. The real lesson is recognizing and appreciating we are not all culturally and religiously the same. In turn, we need to recognize that some of us do not celebrate Christmas while some of us do. Be cautious. Do not blindly wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Be open to learning about your colleagues’ religious and cultural backgrounds and celebrate and honour those differences. This includes, continuing to honour Christmas.

So before you grow resentful or damn the torpedoes and put up decorations “anyway”, ask yourself:

  1. Do I honour the religious holy days of my fellow Frogs?
  2. Do I recognize not everyone celebrates Christmas?
  3. Do I light devas in the workplace for Diwali?
  4. Do I have a minora to mark Hannukah?
  5. Do I celebrate Eid with Muslims?

If your answer to these are “yes”, then celebrating Christmas is just like any other holiday celebrated at work so go ahead and put up that Christmas tree. If you are only celebrating Christmas, you are sending a message about whom and what is important - You and only your beliefs.

I am not saying figuring out who to wish “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” vs Not Saying Anything is an easy task. Nor is celebrating all differences. It requires some effort and balancing on the part of everyone. It takes time to talk to Frogs and learn of their differences. You may even make some mistakes along the way, but mistakes are all part of the journey.

Celebrating all differences, including the difference of the majority, is important to fostering a healthy, inclusive, and tolerant work environment. You may celebrate Christmas personally at work, but you should also celebrate all the other wonderful holy days and celebrations. Just as you may have wished your co-worker happy Diwali last month and shared in a sweet treat, they too should be able to wish you Merry Christmas while enjoying some eggnog. Demanding your own holiday be celebrated exclusively is selfish, and it is not encompassing Frogness.

As it is also a fundamental human right to be private about our religious beliefs, we cannot celebrate everyone’s religious holidays in order to be universally tolerant. Additionally, this would create chronic religious celebration, and we need to keep the main focus the main focus - Our work. Therefore, we shall not formally celebrate any one religious holiday over another.

We shall instead celebrate being a Frog regularly and in every way we can. Celebrations we will and will not participant in are as follows:

  1. Treefrog will not pay for Religious Celebrations. We will not have any Company Religious Celebrations.
  2. You are welcome to celebrate your own religious celebrations in your own space providing you acknolwedge and communicate with others about their religious celebrations to ensure no one is offended.
  3. Treefrog will regularly celebrate Frogness around the time of other religious events. In the comfort of your own mind, you may privately celebrate your own religion during these events, and perhaps, even bring non-religious artifacts like egg-nog or candy.

*St Patrick’s Day is not a religious holiday. It is a day where everyone is Irish.

When will I be eligible to receive holiday pay?

Frogs will receive payment for PUBLIC Holidays by calculating all of the “regular wages the Frog earned” and all of the “vacation pay that was payable” to the Frog in the four weeks ending just before the work week that includes the holiday. This total amount is divided by 20 to determine the amount of holiday pay the Frog will receive. (ROUGHLY EQUALS ONE DAYS’ PAY)