The Left's project on a work-free Christmas Eve has been sent for review – according to information on the Sejm website. It assumes that Christmas Eve will also be a day off from work for employees of retail outlets.
The draft indicates that “through amendments to the Act on non-working days and certain other acts, an additional day off on December 24, i.e. Christmas Eve, will be introduced for all employees.” The Left authorized MP Katarzyna Ueberhan to represent the applicants in the work on the draft bill.
The justification for the project stated that Christmas Eve is an important day for all employees and their families who spend this time cultivating, among others, religious traditions.
“It should be noted that for this reason, employers often decide to shorten working hours to 12.00 or 1.00 p.m. in order to ensure the safe return of employees home to their loved ones. Additionally, it is worth noting that the day off will apply to all employees, including commercial establishments that work until 2 p.m. on that day,” noted the authors of the project.
A free Christmas Eve and greater road safety
They noticed that Christmas Eve is also associated with further trips of employees to visit their families in various places in Poland. In their opinion, the proposed solution will enable “spreading road traffic over a longer period of time, which will contribute to increasing the safety of travelers during this period.”
It was also stated that a day off on Christmas Eve will make it easier for employees to combine work and private life, and therefore “will make it easier to take care of children, who most often do not have educational activities on that day, but only care activities provided in schools.”
According to the authors, the economic effects of the proposed solutions “could theoretically be estimated taking into account macroeconomic data on the Gross Domestic Product, the average salary in the enterprise sector depending on the size of the employer and VAT revenues”, but they would “be subject to far-reaching inaccuracy because (.. .) December 24 is not treated by employers and employees as an ordinary working day.
A day off in 11 countries
The authors of the proposal reminded that Christmas Eve is a statutory day off from work Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakiaand in Hungary. It was proposed that the act would enter into force on the day following its announcement.
Main photo source: TVN24