It was one of the more memorable decisions of the turquoise-blue coalition: Good Friday was a legally recognized holiday for members of the Protestant churches as well as the Old Catholics. However, following a complaint from a non-denominational employee who was unable to make use of this, the Constitutional Court overturned the regulation. According to the new regulation, members of these religious communities can currently only use one day of vacation from the existing quota.
It is completely unclear how often the new regulation has been used so far. Because neither employee nor employer representatives have data material, the decision is entirely up to the companies themselves. In any case, there are no conflicts to be settled, the head of social affairs in the Chamber of Labor (AK), Silvia Hruska-Frank, reported to the APA. Basically, the regulation with the statutory vacation day should not be applied.
Abolition is an “open wound”
The churches affected do not want to accept that Good Friday was quietly buried as a day off for believers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church calls for political negotiations every year. The abolition of Good Friday as a holiday for Protestant Christians in Austria is an open and painful wound, said the Protestant bishop Michael Chalupka in the “Kathpress”. He therefore thought it would make sense to declare Good Friday a public holiday for everyone.
The dismay of many Protestant employees was also noticed in the Chamber of Labour. “This insult is there,” agrees Hruska-Frank. After all, for a few years now, attending church services has also been an official reason for being prevented from working for workers and not just for employees. In most cases, employees would then take the whole day off.
So far, there have been no initiatives in the turquoise-green federal government to address the Good Friday rule in any way. In July 2021, a motion for a resolution tabled by the SPÖ, which also provided for a holiday for everyone, did not find a majority in the Bundesrat, despite the approval of the FPÖ and the Greens.
Source: Nachrichten
