Matovic: Slovaks Work on Sundays Most out of EU Countries

Matovic: Slovaks Work on Sundays Most out of EU Countries

Bratislava, January 13 (TASR) – Slovaks work on Sundays the most out of all EU countries, while Poles work the least, OLaNO MPs Igor Matovic and Anna Veresova told a news conference in Bratislava on Friday, adding that the Labour Code does not require employers to pay their employees extra for Saturday and Sunday work.

“Therefore, we are submitting a draft law that would introduce a mandatory 50-percent bonus for Saturday work and a 100-percent bonus for Sunday work for employees calculated from their average wage in line with the Labour Code,” said Matovic. It would cost the state nothing, while the state would benefit from the higher incomes of employees, he added.

According to Veresova, employees in some firms get weekend bonuses like this, while in many firms they don’t. “One in four men and one in four women regularly work on Saturdays, while both one in five men and women go to work on Sunday, too. Regularly working weekends thus applies to both genders,” she stressed.

It isn’t uncommon if a middle-aged woman regularly working on Saturdays and Sundays gets no weekend bonus from her employer. “This situation chiefly concerns localities with a high unemployment rate, such as Gemer, Spis, Orava and Zemplin. A middle-aged woman there never dares to ask her employer for a bonus for Saturday or Sunday work. She does not dare, since she will retire in ten years and knows that if she loses her job, she will hardly find a new one at this age,” stated Veresova.