A new day off from work? There is an appeal

Last month, a petition was filed with the Senate to establish Christmas Eve as a public holiday. Its author argues that “most Poles plan their vacation on this day specifically – often on demand.” He adds that the Epiphany “does not have such a significant character,” and according to the law, it is a public holiday. He therefore proposes replacing this day with a public holiday, as part of an amendment to the act of January 18, 1951 on public holidays.

The petition is anonymous, but as reported by Wednesday's “Rzeczpospolita”, its author may be the club Polish People's Party (PSL), which significantly increases its chances of positive consideration. Deputy Minister of Climate and PSL spokesman Miłosz Motyka “announces that his club will analyze the petition and does not rule out that it will discuss it with other coalition partners,” the newspaper explains.

– I am open to this type of discussion, because it is no secret that in many industries, work on December 24 is a fiction. And if something is a fiction, why maintain it – says Tomasz Trela, a member of parliament from the Left, quoted by the newspaper.

“Unfortunately, in order to maintain the constant work of workplaces, it is impossible for everyone who applies for leave to receive it, which leads to unnecessary conflicts between employees. Additionally, it is worth noting that someone who regularly does not apply for leave on this day is considered an atheist in the workplace,” we read in the petition.

– We believe that this is a topic worth debating. It would be advisable to at least legally shorten working hours on these days, which is the practice in many plants anyway. On Christmas Eve, work efficiency is much lower anyway – Motyka told Miłosz newspaper. Adding that the club has not abandoned the postulate from years ago.

“The Polish People's Party submitted parliamentary bills on this matter twice during the first term of the PiS government,” recalls “Rzeczpospolita.” The first one, which reached the Sejm in 2016, provided that on Good Friday and Christmas Eve working hours would be shortened to four hours. One of the applicants, as the newspaper writes, was the current Minister of Development and Technology at the time, Krzysztof Paszyk.

The PSL submitted another project two years later, the newspaper reports. This one assumed the introduction of Good Friday and Christmas Eve as days completely free from work. “In the justification, the PSL MPs listed examples of 11 European countries whose residents have Christmas Eve off, and 15 countries where people do not work on Good Friday. They also cited surveys showing that although many Polish employees leave home early on Christmas Eve, the vast majority of them cannot count on early dismissal from work,” the newspaper writes.

However, as “Rzeczpospolita” adds, the Senate coalition has not yet started a discussion on this topic. – We have not yet discussed this topic within the Senate coalition, so no decisions have been made – informs Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, a KO senator and a member of the Senate Petitions Committee.

In Poland we currently have 13 public holidays.

Days off from work are:

1) the days listed below:

a) 1 January – New Year’s Day, b) 6 January – Epiphany, c) the first day of Easter, d) the second day of Easter, e) 1 May – State Holiday, f) 3 May – The National Holiday of the 3rd of May, g) the first day of Whitsun, h) Corpus Christi, i) 15 August – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, j) 1 November – All Saints’ Day, k) 11 November – National Independence Day, l) 25 December – the first day of Christmas, m) 26 December – the second day of Christmas;