Labor legislation

QUESTION: I have a five-day work week with Saturdays and Sundays as days off. I was issued a sick leave certificate due to coronavirus infection from December 22, 2020, to January 11, 2021. My employer is forcing me to work on Saturday, January 16, to make up for Friday, January 8. Is this correct? 

ANSWER: The planning and accounting of working time are carried out by employers in accordance with the Rules for planning and accounting of employees' working time in connection with the transfer of certain working days by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of the Republic of Belarus dated June 25, 2001, No. 75.

 The transfers of certain working days in the corresponding calendar year, announced by resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, apply to the planning of working time of employees who have a five-day work week with days off on Saturday and Sunday, and for whom the transferred days are working days.

          In case,  if for various objective reasons (vacation, illness, performance of state or public duties, other cases provided for by legislation)

if the rescheduled working day for a specific employee could not be a working day, then such rescheduling does not apply to them.

Thus, in connection with the rescheduling of the working day from January 8 to January 16, January 8 is a non-working day for you due to temporary incapacity for work. In the timekeeping sheet, January 8 is marked accordingly as temporary incapacity for work, and January 16 is a day off.

QUESTION: I was hired on January 11, 2021, with a five-day work week and weekends on Saturday and Sunday. Do I need to come to work on Saturday, January 16, due to the rescheduling of the working day from January 8 to January 16?

ANSWER: No, you do not need to.

QUESTION: I was granted annual leave from December 14, 2020, to January 12, 2021. The employer suggested I come to work on January 16 due to the rescheduling of the working day from January 8 to January 16. Is this correct?

ANSWER: No, it is not correct. Due to the rescheduling of the working day from January 8 to January 16, January 16 is a non-working day for employees who were on annual or social leave on January 8.

If in the examples provided, due toproduction necessity employees with their consent  on January 16 shall be involved in work, then this work shall be compensated as work on a day off.

Note : Clause 1of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated 09.11.2020 N 635 "On the transfer of working days in 2021" stipulates that the following working days are transferred in 2021:

from Friday, January 8, to Saturday, January 16;

from Monday, May 10, to Saturday, May 15.

Clause 2of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated 09.11.2020 N 63 grants organizations the right, taking into account the specifics of production (work)

to carry out the transfer of working days established in clause 1 of this resolution in a different manner in accordance with the legislation.

Deputy Head of the Labor Law Compliance Supervision Department

                               Galaĭ G.A.