“Of course, in Russia there are many services for which December 31 is a really serious working day. This, for example, applies to doctors, employees of utility companies, and representatives of law enforcement agencies,” he said. Rossiyskaya newspaper“Leading researcher at the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Smirnov. However, for most Russians this day, of course, is not essentially a working day, he added.
“Why torture people? It is clear that on this day they need to prepare for the holiday, be close to their family and friends, have time to redo household chores. Therefore, it would be logical, for example, to “sacrifice” January 10, freeing December 31. Thus, the winter holidays would still last 10 days,” says Sergei Smirnov.
Other experts suggest not moving anything, just adding one day to the holiday calendar.
It is worth noting that this is not the first initiative of experts to make December 31 a day off. This proposal has been made more than once by both deputies and public figures.
However, the Public Council of the Ministry of Labor at the beginning of the year recognized the idea as frivolous: they recalled that on the last day of the year, in any case, up to 30 percent of all Russian workers will work. Including financiers, because the budget financial year ends on December 31. So everyone has a lot of work to do.
One thing is good - next year the whole country will have a holiday on December 31, since this day falls on Saturday.
We will have 119 days off in 2016, including holidays and weekends. There were 118 such days in the past year.
Meanwhile, Sergei Smirnov is not against extending the winter holidays to include not only December 31, but also the last few days of the month.
For example, this year some workers, and there are many of them, took a vacation from December 28 to 31, adding Saturday and Sunday - December 26 and 27. And the holidays lasted from 10 to 16 days.
“If the employees agreed on this with their bosses, I don’t see anything wrong. The last days of December are full of many events, preparations for the holidays, there is still no great benefit for the economy. And it will be much better if a well-rested employee goes to work in January,” continues Sergey Smirnov - It’s much better to spend a couple of weeks at a resort, taking advantage of the last days of December, than to relieve stress in a not very healthy way. New Year's Eve. But a long vacation, of course, requires large expenses and is suitable for people with high incomes."
And there are also legislators who, on the contrary, propose to significantly reduce the number of days off, leaving only three holidays: January 1, May 9 and June 12. The authors of the bill, introduced in December to the State Duma, are confident that long weekends have a bad effect on the well-being of citizens and lead to overeating and abuse of alcoholic beverages.
There are also disadvantages for the economy, which “is losing up to three trillion rubles, the fall in industrial production varies from 15 to 20 percent,” deputies assure.
It is worth noting that a similar bill was already submitted to the State Duma in January 2015. Then the deputies proposed reducing the number of days off in new year holidays up to four days - from December 31 to January 3. The additional holiday was supposed to be Christmas Day on January 7th. The amendments were not accepted.
Speaking about this idea, Sergei Smirnov proposed giving workers the right to divide these days at their own discretion throughout the year. “For some, it may be more profitable to connect these days to the summer season. But in any case, it is better to keep them paid,” he concluded.
By the way, the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov declared December 31, 2015 a day off. He did this “for the purpose of rational use of weekends and non-working days.” holidays"Earlier, the authorities of Sevastopol made the same decision.
According to experts, Russia is far from being the most vacationing country. For example, the countries of Latin America have long “overtaken” us in this matter. There, people additionally rest for about 40 days a year, which is facilitated by many religious holidays. In Europe, people spend almost as much time on holidays as in Russia.
Moreover, if in Russia the service sector is open on holidays, then in England, for example, during the holidays almost everything is closed, including banks, shops, restaurants, and on Christmas - even the metro.
But workers in Japan and South Korea can only dream of vacations; not only are there almost no holidays there, but vacations are also some of the shortest in the world.
There are 14 federal holidays in Russia
The issue of making the last day of the year a day off was submitted for consideration by LDPR deputies. Now officially December 31st is a working day, although calling it such is a huge stretch. Many organizations in last days December they “let go” their employees to prepare for the holiday; some take a couple of days at their own expense to travel and meet New Year not on the road, in a place of rest. And those few who do spend December 31 at work, as a rule, think not so much about work as about the upcoming holiday. The LDPR deputies “emphasized” this.
The authors of the bill proposed to “shift” the New Year holidays by one day, moving the day off from January 8 to December 31. In their opinion, this would create a “positive emotional background” in the country and make preparations for the holiday easier.
However, the State Duma Committee on Labor did not support the idea of making December 31 a day off and recommended rejecting the bill in the first reading.
Why is December 31st a working day?
Mikhail Tarasenko, first deputy of the Labor Committee, believes that the authors of the bill took too superficial a look at the situation. He believes that December 31 should remain a working day, because by the first day of the New Year all financial payments for the old year should already be carried out. And, if you make this day a holiday, then according to the law, all those people who have to go to work on this day will have to pay double wages.
In addition, Mikhail Tarasenko recalled that December 31 is officially considered a pre-holiday day, when the working day is reduced by one hour. In his opinion, this is quite enough for pre-holiday preparations.
Thus, the question of whether December 31 is a weekend or a working day has been put to the test. The last day of the year remains a working day, and by law, Russians can only firmly count on the fact that they will be able to leave work an hour earlier.
Many people start celebrating the New Year on the morning of December 31st. And it is quite understandable that many people want to step away from everyday work and various production issues on this day. After all, there is so much to do, given that there are long New Year holidays ahead, which need to be devoted to holidays and a good rest from worries. After all, many people have earned it through hard work. In addition, there is always a desire to spend the old year with dignity.
So, despite the fact that the majority of the population of our country has New Year holidays ahead of them every year, many fellow citizens are concerned about the question of whether legislators will make December 31 a day off. After all, a lot needs to be done in a matter of hours before the onset of the new year, for example:
Buy groceries and cook festive table;
stock up on gifts for your loved ones;
put yours in order appearance;
congratulate all your relatives and friends;
finally, put up and beautifully decorate the Christmas tree.
Therefore, many would like to rest on December 31 instead of January 8, since in fact this day already goes beyond the scope of the holiday.
What do we have today
In fact, the problem with the holiday on December 31 is solved automatically in 2016 and 2017, since in these 2 years the pre-holiday day falls on Saturday and Sunday. However, if December 31st falls on weekdays in other years, then labor legislation makes it possible to shorten the working day by one hour. These are the realities of today, and there is no escape from them yet. It is quite possible that parliamentarians will finally decide to make adjustments, but more on that below.
At the same time, in the administration of many companies there are also people who are happy to let their employees go home early. In addition, there are enough companies that allow people not to go to work at all on this day.
Regional authorities also have the right to declare December 31 a day off today. This is what they did, for example, on the eve of 2016 in Sevastopol. This was largely due not only to concern for people, but also to objective reasons caused by the energy blockade by Ukraine.
Should we expect changes in the future?
From time to time, deputies come up with the initiative to make December 31 a day off instead of January 8. The first legislative proposals appeared back in 2014. They were prompted by human logic, which suggests that it is unlikely that most people will work at full capacity on this day. And if so, then declaring a day off is quite reasonable. But the voice of the deputies has not yet been heard by their colleagues.
Moreover, the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation opposes declaring December 31 a day off. This is due to the fact that the lion’s share of all budget calculations occurs at the very end of the year. Therefore, if December 31 becomes a day off, then employees of budgetary institutions will receive a certain increase in their salaries, which will entail an additional burden for the state treasury.
Be that as it may, the issue of giving December 31 the status of an official day off will be repeatedly raised in all corridors of power. And there is hope that sooner or later people will still have a rest on the last day of the outgoing year.
With a shift work schedule, the situation is somewhat different than with employees with a five- and six-day work week, unfortunately. According to paragraph 4 of Art. 91 Labor Code, each enterprise is obliged to record the time worked by members of the workforce. At the same time, the code determines the maximum norms for the duration of work, which in the standard version are equal to 40 hours per week (8 hours per day) for a 5-day work week. For some categories of employees, defined by law, the temporary working standard is reduced and amounts to 24, 35 or 36 hours.
Working time can be tracked in several ways. If the daily work schedule involves the same number of hours, then the daily method of recording time worked is used. If during the week the working days are uneven in length, although the total working time is equal from week to week, then weekly accounting is used.
Shift work is different in that it is quite difficult to comply with the established norms for the duration of work - both during the day and during the week, therefore it is impossible to use the daily method of accounting, while the weekly method is used, but rarely. More often in such cases, the summarized method is used, within the framework of which a shift work schedule for employees is drawn up. If the schedule is drawn up incorrectly or unforeseen circumstances intervene (shift worker illness, force majeure, etc.), the results of the planned shifts result in work hours that go beyond the limits established in the code. Thus, it is worth talking in more detail about the essence of summarized accounting of time worked. Art. is devoted to the summarized accounting of time worked. 104 of the Labor Code, which defines such a method as counting working hours cumulatively during a pre-selected period. That is, work shifts in different days may vary in time and go beyond the limits established by law. May also be uneven and beyond the maximum duration labor activity and workweeks. In this case, summed up for a month (quarter, half-year, year), the time standard for the duration of performance of work duties must be observed and correspond to that defined in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The fact of using the summarized accounting method and the reporting period are established by the internal documentation of the organization. Work on a non-working holiday is work that is performed under conditions deviating from normal, as is work at night (Article 149 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In this regard, the employee is made appropriate payments provided for by labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing standards labor law, collective and labor contracts, agreements, local regulations. According to Art. 153 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if a work shift falls on a non-working holiday, it is paid in the following amounts:
for piece workers - at no less than double piece rates;
employees whose work is paid at daily and hourly tariff rates - in the amount of at least double the daily or hourly tariff rate;
employees receiving a salary (official salary):
in the amount of no less than a single daily or hourly rate (part of the salary (official salary) for a day or hour of work) in excess of the salary (official salary), if the work on a weekend or non-working holiday was performed within the monthly working hours;
in the amount of no less than double the daily or hourly rate (part of the salary (official salary) for a day or hour of work) in excess of the salary (official salary), if the work was carried out in excess of the monthly working hours.
At the same time, this article states that the employer can set the specific amount of wages on a day off or a non-working holiday independently, but not lower than the amounts provided for by law.
Thus, if an employee’s shift falls on a non-working holiday and several more hours fall at night, he is entitled to two additional payments:
for work on a holiday (Article 153 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
for work at night (Article 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
So, in in this case the shift must be paid as follows:
hours actually worked on a non-working holiday are paid at least double (except for the case when, at the request of the employee, he is given another day of rest);
wages for each hour of night work should be increased by at least 20%.
Annually on the last Saturday of March environmental action is being carried out all over the world" Earth Hour", organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).The meaning of the action is in voluntary refusal to consume electrical energy for one hour. Thus, society realizes the importance of taking measures to reduce the negative impact of human activity on the environment.
This great idea was first implemented in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Then about two million residents of the metropolis took part in the action, and energy savings amounted to about 10%.
Inspired by the example, more and more cities began to join the Earth Hour campaign every year. It is expected that in 2020, residents of more than 7 thousand settlements on our planet (more than 2 billion people) will take part in a voluntary power outage for 1 hour. Of course, among the countries participating in the action is Russia.
What date and time does the Earth Hour 2020 campaign take place:
As we wrote above, the event is held annually on the last Saturday of March, with the exception of those years when the last Saturday in March precedes Easter.This year's Earth Hour is scheduled for Saturday. March 28, 2020. The promotion will begin at 20:30 local time and will last for an hour, until 21:30.
That is, the Earth Hour 2020 campaign - what date is it held and at what time:
* Date: March 28, 2020
* from 20:30 to 21:30 local time.
