I'm sure I am not the first person to realize this. This morning, it dawned on me that any business open on a Stat holiday and paying for that day off plus 50% more per hour for the employees who are working that day, are therefore admitting that can pay employees 50% more everyday.
The gov said this day is a Stat for whatever reason and people should have the day off and get paid for it. Exception is made that if a business wants to open: then they pay the workers working on that Stat 50% extra, and still give them a day off with pay. So, they know the stakes and still decided to open and pay that extra 50% in labor costs just so they won't lose revenue for the day or their competition will get a chance to make more than them for that day.
Up to now, I was just thinking they decided to pay the penalty of opening while chasing sales, I guess.
But really, the “penalty” for the Stat is just the day off with pay for every employee.
They are actually demonstrating that, with sales either being more or less than they would have been had the Stat not been on the calendar*, they still think they will come out ahead paying 50% more for working labor for that day. So, on the other 29 days of the month, why can't they pay us 50% more, especially since they are not paying for a day off too for all those other non-Stat days? The sales will be more predictable for efficient scheduling and the labor costs would be 150% instead of about 250% like on a Stat day (to include the days off).
*(on a Stat day business traffic and sales could way below a normal day or be very busy. Fri/Mon Stat equal long weekend where people may leave town or tourists may come to town, for example. It can be a real crap shoot to predict but businesses have usually decided to just be open all year.)