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Comment by harimau777 | Hacker News Reader

Companies have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations of employee's religions. Not expecting them to be available during major religious holidays is well within the bounds of reasonable accommodations. In addition, unless there is more to the story, it doesn't seem believable that someone acting in good faith wouldn't be able to work something out; I mean Christianity only has two major holidays.

This is excluding extreme cases like if someone claimed that their religion has dozens of major holidays a year. To my knowledge, no major religion does that.

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>>This is excluding extreme cases like if someone claimed that their religion has dozens of major holidays a year. To my knowledge, no major religion does that.<<

Let me speak to you about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster...

https://pastafarians.org.au/pastafarianism/holidays/

glob glob

(happy Talk Like a Goldfish Day)

Paradoxically, the US, where many people take religion very seriously, has quite few religiously based public holidays. Switzerland, on the other hand, is much more secular, but some cantons literally have a dozen Christian public holidays, e.g.: Epiphany (Jan 6), St Joseph's Day (Mar 19), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi, Assumption of Mary, All Saint's Day, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas Day, and Saint Stephen's Day.

Quite few as in zero that employers are required to give their employees. Any country with even one required public holiday has way more than the US.

I support having mandatory yearly vacation day minimums (such as 20, 30, 40 days), but I don’t see the point of requiring specific dates off. Some people prefer certain dates, others don’t, and supply and demand can easily sort out the extra pay required to have people work on days that more people would want off.

Oh, I agree completely especially given a binary choice. Too bad in America we have neither.

They also don’t respect Sunday. In the US it’s normal that all stores are open on Sundays and holidays.

Why do I need to respect Sunday? No cities in Asia shutdown on Sunday AFAICT or at least not the ones I've been to. I found it truly annoying when I visited some European cities and nothing was open on Sunday. It felt like they were all under the thumb of religion instead of free to do what they wanted.

Here in Japan Sunday is arguably "Shopping Day". Several areas of the city close one of the major streets from like 12pm to 5pm to pedestrians only for shopping including Shinjuku, Ginza, and Akihabara.

I don't care if you respect Sunday or not. What I am saying is that it's a little strange that a Christian nation is not respecting Sunday.

Are you referring to the US as a "Christian nation?" If so, I think you're sadly mistaken.

That's what it seems to me. Religion is much more dominant here than in Germany where I come from. For example I don't think a non-christian presidential candidate would have much of a chance.

I hate to sound like whining, but I feel jealous and cheated that people with professed religions get special benefits. It's not as though people who don't profess their religions, or those without specific religious affiliation don't have inner needs of their own which they also need time to tend to.

I feel like there should be an "average" compromise and everyone should get the benefit. That way there is no awkward incentive in any direction.

I feel the same. Everybody should get the same benefits independently of religion.

Thus national holidays ("holy days").

I completely agree, Atheists should get the same treatment as religious people for dates and practices that are important to them.

Obviously I don't want to tell other people how to practice their beliefs, but I never understood why, for example, Atheists don't put up memorials to important humanists (or something else meaningful to them) next to the Nativity scenes and Menorahs that people put up in public during the Holidays.

Adopt a form of magical thinking, and you too can get extra days off. ;)

But seriously, if you're on a flight that still has meal service, ordering ahead-of-time the kosher or veg/an option usually means you'll get yours first. :D

Judaism does that, but most of my Jewish coworkers have just taken PTO for the minor ones. Purim is fun but no one expects off for it!

I think if the company is open for business on a day that you want off for a religious holiday, then that's why companies give PTO, so that people can have flexibility in how and when they don't show up to work when everyone else does.

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