The Right of an Employee to a Day Off Granted in Connection with Religious Holidays Not Regulated in the Act on Public Holidays

Abstract

The article is devoted to issues relating to the right of employees belonging to churches and religious associations in Poland to be released from work in order to celebrate religious holidays other than those listed by the legislator in the Act on Public Holidays. The issue under consideration is also inextricably linked with respect for rights and freedoms and the prohibition of discrimination against every individual; therefore, the author also presents the most important regulations in this area. In undertaking a legal analysis of an employee’s right to celebrate religious holidays observed in their faith, the author sought to determine the extent to which current legal solutions and case law safeguard against discrimination on religious and worldview grounds, and the extent to which they permit the restriction of these rights on account of the interests of others, including employers. The subject matter of the analysis is supplemented by views expressed in legal doctrine, decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.