According to the law, the January holidays in Russia last from January 1 to January 8 - and this is usually enough to celebrate the coming of the New Year and celebrate Christmas. But what about the last day of the outgoing year, December 31 - is he a day off or a work day? This issue was considered by the State Duma in June 2015.
Why do you need a day off on December 31
The question of whether the last day of the year should be made a day off was brought up for consideration by the LDPR deputies. Now officially December 31 is a working day, although it is a stretch to call it that. Many organizations in the last days of December "let go" their employees to prepare for the holiday, some take a couple of days at their own expense to go on a trip and celebrate the New Year not on the road, in a place of rest. And those few who do spend December 31 at the workplace, as a rule, think not so much about work as about the upcoming holiday. This is what the Liberal Democratic Party deputies "rested" on.
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 it easier to prepare for the holiday.
However, the State Duma Labor Committee did not support the idea of making December 31 a day off and recommended that the bill be rejected in the first reading.
Why, after all, December 31 is a working day
Mikhail Tarasenko, first deputy of the labor committee, believes that the authors of the bill looked at the situation too superficially. He believes that December 31 should remain a working day, because by the first day of the New Year, all financial calculations for the old one should already have been 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 their 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 the pre-holiday preparation.
Thus, in the question of whether December 31 is a day off or a working day, another bullet was put. 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.
