What benefits can servers get in Ontario?
The short answer
In Ontario
| Health coverage (OHIP) | No waiting period. You must make Ontario your primary residence and be physically here 153 days in any 12-month period. Apply in person at a ServiceOntario centre with three documents. |
|---|---|
| Prescriptions to age 24 (OHIP+) | Covers more than 5,900 medications if you’re 24 or under, have OHIP, and aren’t covered by a private plan. No enrolment needed. |
| High drug costs (Trillium Drug Program) | For people who spend about 4% or more of after-tax household income on prescriptions and have no plan paying 100%. After the deductible you pay up to $2 per drug. Apply online or at 1-800-575-5386. |
| Vacation and vacation pay | Two weeks after each 12-month entitlement year, three after five years. Vacation pay is 4% of gross wages (6% after five years), and tips and gratuities are left out. |
| Public holidays | Nine a year. Holiday pay is your regular wages from the four work weeks before, plus vacation pay payable, divided by 20. Work the day and you get holiday pay plus premium pay, or regular pay plus a substitute day off. |
| Sick leave | Up to 3 unpaid, job-protected days per calendar year once you’ve worked 2 consecutive weeks. Since October 28, 2024 your employer can’t require a medical note for them. |
| Family responsibility leave | Up to 3 more unpaid, job-protected days a year for a family member’s illness, injury, medical emergency or urgent matter. Unused days don’t carry over. |
| LIFT tax credit | A non-refundable Ontario credit of $875 or 5.05% of employment income, whichever is lower. It shrinks once adjusted net income passes $32,500 (or $65,000 for a family). Claimed on your tax return. |
| Ontario Trillium Benefit | Combines the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit, Northern Ontario Energy Credit and Ontario Sales Tax Credit (up to $378). File your return with the ON-BEN form, even with no income. The 2026 benefit year runs July 2026 to June 2027. |
“There is no longer a waiting period for OHIP coverage. If you are eligible, you will have immediate health insurance coverage.” (Ontario: Apply for OHIP and get a health card)
Plus the federal programs: What benefits can servers get in Canada?
What’s different in Ontario
Ontario draws a sharp line at 25 for prescriptions. Up to your 25th birthday, OHIP+ picks up the bill automatically if nothing at work covers you, so a young server with no benefits plan still gets inhalers, antibiotics and birth-control prescriptions paid. After that, the fallback is Trillium, which only starts paying once you’ve spent roughly 4% of household income after tax.
The job-protected sick days here are unpaid, and there are only 3, with 3 separate family days. For a tipped worker the bigger surprise is vacation pay: the ESA guide leaves tips out of the wages it’s calculated on, so the 4% comes off your hourly pay alone. The LIFT credit is capped at $875 and is non-refundable, which means it only cuts Ontario income tax you’d otherwise owe. Plus the federal programs, including the dental plan and the workers benefit.
Official sources
- Ontario: Apply for OHIP and get a health card
- Ontario: OHIP+ (children and youth pharmacare)
- Ontario: Get help with high prescription drug costs (Trillium Drug Program)
- Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, vacation
- Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, public holidays
- Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, sick leave
- Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, family responsibility leave
- Ontario: Low-income Individuals and Families (LIFT) Tax Credit
- Ontario: Ontario Trillium Benefit
Last verified
. Checked the government pages linked above.
Still open: The public holiday guide defines regular wages without mentioning tips, so it doesn’t say outright whether tips count toward holiday pay. Tax-credit amounts are indexed or reset each year.