Compared to other EU countries, the Netherlands does not have many public holidays that are non-working days. There are eleven such holidays, and nine of them are associated with Christianity. More details about holidays in the Netherlands - in our article.
The national and religious composition of the inhabitants of the Netherlands is gradually changing. Is it possible to transfer the day off you are entitled to on a public holiday to another day, for example, to a religious holiday of another denomination?
We should start with the fact that in the Netherlands there is no law that obliges employers to give employees a day off on a public holiday. Specific days off related to holidays are established in the collective labor agreement. State and municipal officials rest everywhere these days, but it happens differently for employees of private companies.
Twenty and even ten years ago, employers had a negative attitude towards the transfer of such days off. However, experience has shown that there is nothing terrible when an employee rests not on a Christian holiday, but on his own confessional holiday. Therefore, the possibility of such a replacement is gradually being introduced into collective labor agreements: out of 703 agreements concluded with the participation of the FNV trade union, 51 agreements already provide for such a possibility. This possibility is also contained in the collective agreement between the largest railway operator in the Netherlands, NS, and such a large retailer as IKEA.
It is worth considering that most employment contracts provide that the employer is obliged to provide you with a day off or vacation at the time for which you requested it. If this is impossible for objective reasons, the employer is obliged to give a written reasoned refusal indicating these reasons. Accordingly, there are no legal reasons for refusing to postpone a day off associated with a public holiday to another day.
It is clear that changing the public mentality is difficult and takes time. But you can often reschedule your day off now, and over time this practice will apparently become widespread.
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