Will Saturday still be a workday starting in 2023?

The revision of the Civil Code is taking shape more and more. The “general provisions” in Book 1 will take effect on January 1, 2023. Article 1.7 of this New Civil Code states that legal holidays, Sundays, and Saturdays are not workdays. In principle, this provision will also apply to labor law. Until now, Saturdays have been considered working days under labor law. However, Federal Minister of Labor Dermagne is reported to have asked the National Labor Council to examine whether it would be appropriate to still classify Saturdays as working days. Unless the minister has a new legislative amendment passed before January 1, 2023, this new rule will have an impact on the following key time calculations:

An employer (or employee) may unilaterally terminate the employment contract. This means that the employee must observe a notice period, and the employment contract expires at the end of that period. The most common way to do this legally is by sending a registered letter. Until now, this registered letter had to be mailed no later than Wednesday in order for the notice period to begin on the following Monday. This is because the notice period does not begin until the Monday of the week following the week in which the other party received the notice letter. According to the law, this acknowledgment occurs on the third business day after the date of mailing, regardless of whether the employer (or employee) actually receives the letter earlier or later. Under this new rule, the party wishing to terminate the employment contract by registered letter would have to do so no later than Tuesday. If the notice of termination is not mailed until Wednesday, however, it will not take effect until the following Monday, and the notice period will not begin until one week later (and will therefore also last one week longer). Anyone who is unaware of this may be in for some unpleasant surprises. If the notice period is terminated a week too early, the other party may claim compensation equal to one week’s wages. Forewarned is forearmed!

An employer (or employee) may terminate the employment relationship immediately without notice if there is an urgent reason. Since this is the most drastic form of termination, a strict procedure must be followed, and two strict deadlines of three business days apply. Anyone wishing to properly terminate the employment contract for urgent cause must do so within an (initial) period of three business days, which begins on the day following the day on which the facts become known. Furthermore, the party terminating the employment contract for cause must notify the other party of the facts within a (second) three-business-day period, which begins on the day following the day on which the termination was given. Under this new rule, an employer (or employee) who is notified of a serious misconduct on a Wednesday will still have until the following Monday to terminate the contract for urgent cause in a timely manner. And if the contract was terminated on a Wednesday, the employer (or employee) also has until Monday to describe the grounds for termination in sufficient detail and send the notice by certified mail. If Monday is a holiday, there is even an extra day to do so. Until now, the deadlines in this example have always expired on Saturday. We are monitoring this closely and will, of course, keep you informed of any legislative initiatives that may follow. Want to know more? Then contact one of our specialists. Feel free to contact us class: button