What is the difference between vacation time and vacation pay under Ontario's ESA?

Vacation time and vacation pay are related but legally distinct concepts under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Vacation time is the actual time off work an employee earns for each completed vacation entitlement year, expressed as a period of weeks. Vacation pay is the money tied to that time off, calculated as a percentage of the wages the employee earned during the relevant vacation entitlement year, and it's what actually funds the employee while they're away from work.

The distinction matters because an employer can, in narrow circumstances, agree with an employee on the timing of vacation pay separately from when the time off is taken, but generally can't substitute one for the other outright — paying out vacation pay doesn't relieve an employer of the obligation to also provide the vacation time itself, and vice versa. Employers sometimes assume that as long as vacation pay shows up on a pay stub, the vacation time obligation has somehow been satisfied, which isn't correct.

Employees leaving a job are entitled to any vacation pay earned but not yet paid, but that's separate from whether they were given all the vacation time they were entitled to while employed. Track both obligations separately rather than assuming one covers the other.