Luxembourg Not Required To Compensate Double Public Holiday In 2008

Sources: Frontaliers and Luxembourg public holidays. According to an analysis by Jean-Luc Putz, avocat à la cour au barreau de Luxembourg, and posted on the lesfrontaliers.lu website, the issue of the Ascension Day 2008 public holiday conflicting with the May Day 2008 public holiday, does not, per se, call for any reaction on the part of the Luxembourg government, as was the case in neighboring Belgium (our post of April 24).

In his analysis, Maître Putz points out three way in which the situation is very different in Luxembourg, as compared to Belgium, and that would indicate that no extra day in lieu should be given:

• In Luxembourg's legislation, the public holidays are listed, but there is no mention of their total number in a given calendar year.
• In Luxembourg's legislation, public holidays are specifically meant to be used to allow workers to participate in religious and/or social ceremonies. But neither Ascension Day nor May Day celebrations are likely to move, so workers would not be deprived of their right to attend the ceremonies listed in the law, even if no day in lieu is given.
• Finally, while a public holiday can be decreed by the executive branch of government in Belgium, in Luxembourg, a law has to be passed.

Of course, the above legal arguments are fine, but politics being what it is, the Luxembourg government may yet decide to declare a day in lieu, probably on May 2, 2008, as was done in Belgium. We will continue to monitor further developments.