The Eid Al Fitr holidays have been announced and the debate over public and private sector holidays has been renewed. For many years now there have been calls to standardise the holidays for both the sectors. After all, workers feel that in the case of public holidays it should not matter where you work. In fact, it has been suggested that giving the same number of days off to both sectors would be one way of drawing Emiratis to the private sector.
However, this time too the holidays for Eid differ for workers in the private and public sectors. Though the difference may only be a day or two, it still raises a question: why is one sector favoured over the other?
Also, it will be good if the ministry clarifies what happens when a holiday falls on the weekend. So if the first day of Shawaal is a Saturday, workers would be eager to know if they will be compensated for the holiday.
