The PAN once again proposed in Parliament that workers’ absences due to the death of a companion animal be justified and also the right to dismissal on their birthday.
The PAN’s only deputy delivered a bill that aims to amend the Labor Code and the General Labor Law in Public Functions and approve the “regime of justified absences from work due to death or assistance to a companion animal”, a proposal that already presented in the last legislature.
Inês de Sousa Real proposes that workers can justifiably miss one day of work due to the death of a pet that is registered in their name and up to two days a year to “provide urgent and essential assistance in the event of illness or accident” .
“To justify the absence, the worker must provide proof of the urgent and essential nature of the assistance or a statement proving the death of the pet animal, issued by a competent entity, namely by the veterinarian or the entity where the medical-veterinary care was provided to the animal “, the project reads.
The PAN initiative provides that the worker must comply with the decree-law that allows three adult dogs or four cats per fire in an urban building, or up to six adult animals in the case of rustic or mixed buildings.
The People-Animals-Nature party today presented another bill to the Assembly of the Republic so that workers have “the right to be released from service, without loss of pay, on their birthday”.
The sole deputy foresees that workers born on February 29th can take advantage of the exemption on March 1st and that those who work on a shift schedule can choose to take advantage of the following day.
“In cases where, for reasons of service, it is not possible to enjoy exemption from service on the day of one’s birthday, or if the day of one’s birthday falls on a weekly, mandatory or complementary rest day, or on a public holiday, it must be the worker is granted the following working day”, adds the PAN.
Inês de Sousa Real also wants that, “by agreement between employer and worker or instrument of collective labor regulation, mandatory holidays that fall on a weekly, mandatory or complementary day of rest” can “be observed on the Monday of the following week” and those “that fall on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday” can “be observed on the Monday of the following week”.
The PAN justifies that this proposal can “increase the confidence, creativity and mission spirit of workers, since through this measure the employer recognizes the flexibility and trust in its workers, by giving them autonomy to choose when to take their holiday under certain conditions and avoiding them having to spend vacation days to be able to make what are commonly called ‘bridges'”.
