Corpus Christi is not a national holiday: see workers’ rights

Corpus Christi Day, celebrated this Thursday (16), is not a national holiday. As with Carnival, the date is considered an optional point in much of the country and can generate doubts among employees and employers.

The lawyer specialized in labor law Luís Carlos Mello, from the Atique e Mello Advogados office, explains that in cities where the date is not a holiday, the decision to grant or not the time off to employees is up to the employer. Because it is a religious date, many companies choose not to have an office.

“If the company doesn’t work, it decides whether to grant paid time off or whether to deduct the hours not worked from the hour bank. If the company does not have an hour bank, the employee can make the compensation at a future date”, he says.

In the situation where the company opts for paid time off, it will not be able to demand compensation for hours not worked in the future. According to Mello, the same idea applies to companies that decide not to work on Friday (17), splicing Thursday’s day off with the weekend. In this case, according to the expert, it is up to the company to decide how the absence will be compensated.

In municipalities where the date is included in the list of local holidays, the worker has the right to a day of rest guaranteed by law. The employee who goes to work at the time has the right to receive double the amounts, if the employer does not guarantee the day off for the work. The rules, however, can be modified according to a collective bargaining agreement or agreement.

MUNICIPALITIES THAT EARLY DATE WILL NOT HAVE HOLIDAYS

Among the cities in which Corpus Christi is officially a holiday are São Paulo (SP), Porto Alegre (RS), Salvador (BA), Belo Horizonte (MG) and Curitiba (PR). However, some municipalities anticipated the holiday last year, as is the case of the capital of São Paulo. In March 2021, by means of a decree, the City of São Paulo anticipated five holidays with the aim of restricting the movement of people.

“From the moment we have the decree, it has the force of law. This means that, in those cities where the holiday was brought forward, people will have to work on the 16th”, says lawyer Maurício Pepe De Lion, partner at Felsberg Advogados. He explains that the rule applies in general, regardless of whether the worker was working in a particular company or not when the anticipation was made. “If we have a rule, it must be respected.”

The exception is workers from health units, urban security, funeral service and the banking sector, who did not have anticipation of the holiday, says lawyer Mourival Boaventura Ribeiro, a partner at Boaventura Ribeiro Advogados.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE EMPLOYEE IS MISSING

If the company chooses to keep working hours, either on Thursday — in municipalities where Corpus Christi is not a public holiday — or on Friday, and the employee is absent from work without justification, he will be disrespecting an employer’s order, he says. honey “In this case, the company can deduct that day from the salary and stop paying the weekly rest day, because the employee failed to comply with the conditions to be entitled to this remuneration.”

But despite these consequences, unexcused absence is no reason for a dismissal for good cause, says Lion. “Only in cases where the employee greatly increases the frequency of absences, without presenting a plausible justification, can dismissal for just cause be considered.”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPTIONAL AND HOLIDAY

Unlike the holiday, the optional point is an administrative act that exempts public servants from work at the municipal, state and federal levels. This Tuesday (14), the Ministry of Economy defined Friday (17) as an optional point, in a decision published in the Official Gazette of the Union. The measure exempts federal employees from work.

In the city of São Paulo, June 16 was defined as an optional point, exempting municipal workers from work. On the 17th, however, the working hours will be normal.

Mello explains that the definition of the optional point does not extend to private companies. “The optional point does not fit as labor law, but as administrative law.”