In order to compensate for non-working days: the Federation Council proposed to reduce the New Year holidays

Andrei Kutepov, Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the Council of the Federation, took the initiative to shorten the New Year holidays in 2021.

According to the senator, such a decision will make it possible to compensate for Russia's economic losses from the introduction of a day off regime in the spring of 2020 in order to slow down the spread of coronavirus infection.

Kutepov sent the draft amendment to the Labor Code for review to the Ministry of Labor by the head of the department, Anton Kotyakov, asking him to express the position of the ministry.

The senator noted that the proposed changes, if approved, will be valid only in 2021.

“In order to compensate for the number of forced non-working days to maintain the economy of enterprises and organizations, the bill proposes to reduce the New Year holidays in 2021 and make the working week from January 4 to January 8, with the exception of January 7,” RIA Novosti reported with reference to the text of the document.

As the senator stated in his letter, at the end of March many workers were transferred to part-time work or to another free schedule, while employers were obliged to pay them wages, even “in the absence of a job function or partial performance”. He also pointed out that even after the May holidays, due to the different epidemiological situation in the regions, not all enterprises were able to resume work.

At the same time, Kutepov noted that the regime of non-working days is not a vacation, in connection with which the head cannot fail to let his employees go on regular paid vacations.

Citizens of Russia, in accordance with the production calendar, had to work 247 days in 2020, and rest - 118 (including all weekends and holidays), the document says. It also emphasizes that instead of taking into account the situation arising due to COVID-19, as well as the days dedicated to the parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War (June 24) and the vote on constitutional amendments (1 July), the weekend will be 120, and additional non-working days - 27.

“The number of non-working days in 2020 is 20% more,” Kutepov said in a letter.

Recall that on March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his address to the nation, declared a week from March 30 to April 3 a non-working wage with the aim of combating the spread of coronavirus. The head of state also proposed a number of social and economic measures designed to support the population, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. The day-off regime was twice extended and was canceled on May 12.

As Valery Ryazansky, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, noted in a conversation with RT, the proposed initiative is designed to minimize "the economic and financial losses that the coronavirus caused." At the same time, he emphasized that questions remained on this proposal, and it needed to be discussed. 

“I mean what to do with children during this vacation time, how to be with parents children, how to plan children’s vacation in winter. Maybe colleagues from the education committee will look for answers to these questions, for example, in changing the curriculum. It is necessary to listen to all the pros and cons, the parliamentarian concluded.

In turn, Vladimir Gutenev, deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on economic policy, industry, innovative development and entrepreneurship, doubted that a working week of three additional days, with a break, could dramatically change the situation.

He also noted that some Russians, at the request of employers, were forced to use their accumulated leave. In conditions when tourism has not yet fully recovered, not all Russian families will be able to relax, especially traveling with their children.

“And long enough New Year holidays, especially combined with school holidays, allow families to fully recover from a rather difficult period. Therefore, the economic benefits do not seem obvious to me, if I had such an opportunity, I would nevertheless delegate to the heads of enterprises, regional leaders, depending on industry specifics, to make such decisions, but on a national scale, it seems to me that the effect here will not be fundamentally positive significant, ”said the deputy.