Legal changes for Sunday to be a non-working day, this month at a government session

The Ministry of Economy also worked on legal changes for the introduction of Sunday as a day off. It drafted amendments to the Law on Trade that regulate this issue.

The government has drafted legal changes that define Sunday as a non-working day. The activities in which the weekly rest can be replaced with another working day are specified and according to the assessments they are necessary for the normal functioning of the society. The amendments provide for a 50 percent higher per diem and a day off for those who will work on Sundays, which are part of these activities, as well as a 100 percent higher per diem and a day off for those who will work in non-core activities, which is regulated by the Law on trade. As the legally established consultations are over, the changes are expected to be presented at a government session this month.

The Government points out that this harmonizes the private and professional life of the workers. They say it will result in greater employee satisfaction and increased motivation to work, which will further contribute to greater productivity, better economic results of employers, and thus workers. The unions do not fully agree with this solution and demand greater protection mechanisms. Employers believe the solution is a good compromise, reached after lengthy talks between the social partners.

The President of the Organization of Employers Angel Dimitrov says that these legal changes were considered for a long time, and there was a longer discussion and the Economic and Social Council. This solution, according to him, is balanced and promotes workers' rights. However, at the same time, he emphasizes, care must be taken for the consistent application of what will be adopted.

- There were several variants, and in the end this is a kind of compromise. Instead of defining the day of the week as "Sunday or some other day" in the law, Sunday is now a day of weekly rest. So, no employer can declare another day instead of a week as a day of weekly rest, except in the essential activities, which is a progress of those workers' rights. But, on the other hand, we decided that we must list the activities where for various reasons - such as keeping animals, is it because of the high furnaces in the technological process, is it the media, is it the transportation of passengers, goods вме We tried to list all the activities where due to the nature of the activity we have to work on Sundays, so that the process can not be interrupted and some ancillary activities, such as in banking. The banks do not work on Sundays, but the credit card maintenance service, to help the credit card users of the software and those things, must have some auxiliary activities, Dimitrov told MIA.

He adds that the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy should list those ancillary activities separately in rulebook, because they are different in different sectors.

- There were reactions from the Trade Union why for retail and wholesale trade, meaning for shops, stores, etc. will be resolved by the Law on Trade, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy. But they have found a compromise for those who will work on Sundays, say big malls, to pay the worker 100 percent plus, which means double the daily wage and to be given a weekly rest on another day of the week. In addition to the turnover they have during the holidays and on Sunday to pay two percent in the budget for construction of kindergartens. So, this is a compromise because if the employers estimate that the turnover they have on Sunday is very important to them and is much higher than the other days of the week, they will be paid to pay double per diem plus state compensation and work on Sundays. Those employers who estimate that their turnover is not so high, that there are only increased costs for wages and compensation, then will not work on Sundays. The employer will decide whether he will work or not on Sunday, says the president of ORM.  

Dimitrov emphasizes that despite, as he says, the achieved good compromise, care should be taken for its consistent implementation.

- In the existing legal solutions, it was not a problem to work, but it was a problem to pay the increased per diem for work on Sundays or holidays. This non-compliance with the law has led to the adoption of such a decision, which will regulate a little more strictly and increase the penalties for employers who do not comply with it. They can be banned from doing business for 15 days. In a way, we as employers agreed, we accepted these compromises, Dimtrov said, adding that the latest version of the law is good compromise.  

According to the law on labor relations, for work on Sunday in essential activities you will get 50 percent higher per diem and day off, and for work in retail, as in shops in shopping malls and gas stations per diem higher by 100 percent and day off.

- The difference is that according to the Law on Labor Relations, the work on Sunday is only because of the activity, so neither the employer is guilty, nor the employee is guilty, which must be so. The employee, even when he is employed in such an activity, say the journalists, the media, are aware in advance that they will have to work on Sundays, and thus receive a 50% increased daily wage and a day off in one of the following days. While this in trade is done to discourage employers from working on Sundays. So, the number of shops that will work on Sunday to be as limited as possible and that is why the daily wage has been doubled instead of 50 percent - 100 percent and that is regulated by another law, said Dimitrov.

He explains that other shops, such as textile shops, will not have the right to work on Sundays, unless the owner or the founder of the company wants to work. He is allowed. So, emphasizes Dimitrov, the owner of the company can work because it is his constitutional right, no one can forbid him, since it is his he wants to work, but the workers can not work. According to him, the big food markets and shops within the shopping centers will also work. The confections, ie the textile, leather and shoe industries will not work, because they are not included in the exceptions. 

- Only those who are strictly written in exceptions or activities necessary for the functioning of the state will work. The whole processing industry will not work. Only a part of that industry, even, say, in the dairies will work only the services that will collect the milk from the villagers and put it in the freezer, and on Monday the production process will start. So, only ancillary activities will work. So, textile factories, leather, wood processing, furniture, it will not work at all, explains the president of the Organization of Employers.  

The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia does not agree with the proposal of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the right of Sunday to be a non-working day, to be regulated by the Law on Trade, except for the Law on Labor Relations. Hence, they are of the opinion that this right should be regulated only by the Law on Labor Relations, as a basic law of labor law, and not to be regulated by special laws, because, they emphasize, it can lead to inequality of workers' rights and to cause legal uncertainty.

The Trade Union at the meetings of the Economic and Social Council at which this issue was discussed, expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that, as they emphasize, after a period of six months of negotiating and agreeing on the details of the manner and procedure for exercising this right of workers, The MLSP has changed the concept and proposes this right to be regulated by the Law on Trade in addition to the Law on Labor Relations.

- SSM expresses concern about the expansion of activities, including allowing the operation of shopping centers (malls) which will be in the exceptions that will be able to work on Sundays. SSM believes that the ancillary and ancillary activities, ie jobs that are planned to work on Sundays are not specified and are not defined in the law and this wording is not clear and general, it is not determined for how many and how many workers it refers, so it can be a source of manipulations and abuses, and with such a vague wording, instead of regulating the right Sunday as a non-working day with legal changes, in fact Sunday will become a working day for most workers, said for MIA the president of SSM Darko Dimovski.

He emphasizes that SSM remains of the opinion that in order to prevent abuses, the day of weekly rest for the exceptions from paragraph 3 of the Draft Law should be the day that precedes it, ie follows the day Sunday or Saturday before Sunday or Monday.

We mention that even the transfer of the right for only one day in the next week can mean the loss of the right to weekly rest which should be used seven days a week. The proposal of the MLSP allows the workers to work for at least 12 days continuously, ie during two working weeks to use only one day of weekly rest if the weekly rest from the next week is transferred again for the next week, says Dimovski.

We suggest, he adds, in violation of the provisions of Article 134, a ban on performing work to be adopted on the entire operation, and not in the work space or work room where the irregularity has been determined. The fines, he says, should be serious in order to act preventively and prevent violations of the law, because, as he pointed out, so far in practice it has been shown that such a legal solution in the part of undeclared workers is problematic because the employer continues to work in other premises since the ban applies only to certain working premises and not to the entire operation.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy says that coconsultations with stakeholders lasted several months, before the Bill received this content it has today.

-Of course, in these consultations the most important were the views and opinions of the social partners, because they represent the interests of the two most affected categoriesworkers and employers. We can quite freely say that their contribution was very important to us in defining the legal solutions, especially in determining the activities that will be exceptions to the rule that Sunday is a day of weekly rest for all. It was important to find on this list only those activities whose work is necessary on Sundays or activities that due to the nature of the technical-technological process must take place without interruption, because otherwise, we will not be able to achieve the desired effect.Sunday should be a day of weekly rest for all and it will be easier to organize the family and social life of the workers, say the MLSP for MIA.

They add that the benefits of reconciling the private and professional lives of workers will result in greater employee satisfaction and increased motivation to work, which will further contribute to greater productivity, better economic results of employers, and thus workers.

The law is expected to be presented at a government session later this month. ИConsidering that the legally established consultation procedure for the amendments to the Law on Labor Relations has been completed, the Draft Law is expected to be reviewed by the Government this month, according to the MLSP. The implementation of the law was announced for the beginning of next year. 

The Ministry of Economy also worked on legal changes for the introduction of Sunday as a day off. It drafted amendments to the Law on Trade that regulate this issue.

The Ministry clarifies that the catering will work in accordance with the Law on Catering, and the shopping centers and individuals will work only one shift per week, and all those employees will receive one hundred percent per diem. According to the law on trade, they point out, all companies that will work on Sunday will be licensed, and the Labor Inspectorate and the Market Inspection will supervise the payment of overtime hours and conditions. Everyone will be reported for work on Sunday and so a check will be made to check if the workers were paid extra.

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