New law
Saxon left wants a replacement for weekend holidays
Rico Gebhardt calls for a substitute holiday law. photo
© Sebastian Kahnert/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Public holidays are extremely important for recreation, says the Saxon left – and calls for a replacement public holiday law. This is intended to compensate for public holidays that fall on the weekend.
The left in Saxony advocates that people get another day off in the future if a public holiday falls on the weekend. “Statutory public holidays are additional non-working days and are extremely important for recreation,” said the leader of the state parliament, Rico Gebhardt, on Sunday. The left is therefore proposing a substitute holiday law, according to which there should be a compensatory day in the following week for every public holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
This year, January 1st and May 1st fell on a non-working Sunday anyway – the same applies to Christmas Day on December 25th. Gebhardt referred to numerous other countries where it has long been customary for public holidays that fall on a weekend to be made up for on the following working day. There is no such regulation in Germany. “We now want to introduce them at least for Saxony in order to secure the constitutionally protected rest from work,” he justified the initiative in the state parliament.
The left is stepping up the pace so that the Saxons can benefit from such a regulation this year. According to the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, if the resolution is passed in good time, December 27 this year would be an additional day off – as a substitute for Christmas Day, which falls on a Sunday. However, in Saxony, where a coalition of CDU, Greens and SPD form the government, the left is in opposition. It is therefore uncertain whether her application will be successful in Parliament.