The Economic Chamber of Macedonia will soon forward proposed amendments to the Law on Holidays to the Macedonian Ministry of Economy and Labor; these proposals would indirectly reduce the number of non-working days to 13 and ensure that holidays falling on a Sunday are no longer transferred to Monday as a non-working day.
At a press conference on Monday, the Economic Chamber’s project manager AnetaDimovska noted that the proposal does not call for the abolition of existing holidays, but rather for a revision of the rules regarding non-working days.
“Our proposal is not to delete or abolish specific holidays, but to revise the rights stemming from holidays defined in this way. The current system setup could be viewed as unconstitutional, as it places citizens belonging to different groups in an unequal position. Members of the Serbian or Vlach communities, if they are Orthodox, have the highest number of non-working days: 11 applicable to everyone, five for those of the Orthodox faith, and additional days specific to their ethnic community. This contrasts with, say, a member of the Islamic faith, who has fewer days allocated for celebrating such religious holidays. There is also an absurdity regarding the St. Sava holiday: while it is designated as a non-working day for members of the Serbian ethnic community here, it is not a non-working day in neighboring Serbia,” said Dimovska.
According to the Chamber’s representative, upon starting a new employment, workers would choose which holidays to observe from the group of holidays that do not apply to all citizens. As a second proposal to be submitted to the Ministry, the Chamber suggests that holidays falling on a Sunday should not be carried over to Monday as a non-working day. Dimovskahighlighted that this initiative stems from long-standing concerns raised by employers, who believe the current system creates organizational and financial difficulties.
“Employee absences during holidays negatively impact productivity and cause financial and organizational challenges,” said Dimovska.
According to the Chamber’s analysis covering 36 European economies, about 70 percent of them have between 11 and 14 public holidays and non-working days. Macedonia falls within this range if only the 11 non-working days applicable to all citizens are considered; however, if the five additional non-working days for members of the Orthodox faith are included, the total reaches 16.
She adds that in more than half of the European countries analyzed, holidays are not shifted to the next working day if they fall on a weekend.
Dimovska also points out that citizens often use holidays and long weekends for travel abroad, which, in her view, results in a leakage of consumer spending out of the country.