Diana Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 I have just spent some time entering info into my new French diary for 2005. As we hope to be living there by Easter I thought I would high-light all the Jours Feries as their dates are not let engrained in my head. Out of what seems a very generous total of 11, 5 are on Sundays and 1 Saturday, leaving 5 on working days. Compare this to England’s 6 all on working days and the English don’t seem too badly off. I can’t see the point of being given a day’s holiday if the majority of the workers are already getting that day off. Do staff in hospitals, restaurants etc get extra pay and/or time of in lieu? And as for the Christmas break being just Christmas day it sounds very Scrooge like to me. Diana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Welcome to France. Here we have the 35 hour working week to which most people are controlled by and have wages accordingly. It's tough when fête days are on weekends and no, workers do not get extra pay or days in lieu. As an employer I and all the other employers here are not prepared/cannot afford to pay all the social charges to give an employee an extra day's holiday just because it happened to fall at a weekend, it dosn't work like that here and is widely accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 ValWhat I really meant was if you are a nurse and the Jour Feries is say a Thursday and your shift means you are working that day do you then get anything extra. I think in the UK if they choose to work they would get double time and time of in lieu.Diana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Most of the French people I know, work saturdays anyway, so they'll get the saturday one, won't they?Alcazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBC Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 No that it's important, but aren't there 8 bank holidays in UK (1 Jan, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 2 in May, 1 in August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day)? French people are always amazed when they find out that if a UK bank holiday falls on a weekend then it is taken the following Monday. And yet the UK media is always bemoaning how few hols there are compared to the rest of Europe .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 I only included 6 as I felt Christmas and Good Friday are religious days and likewise did not include them in the French total. What got me thinking was that I had always understood the England was a bit hard done by compared to France in the BH stakes. Then when I sat down with my diary I realised that a lot of the French ones are not much use to the average worker. I suppose some years are better than others it just depends which day of the week they fall on. I also think the standard English tradition of them mostly being on a Monday making them all into a pont feries means we can make the most of them. But there again having a day off mid week is a nice idea too. I suppose it is all down to conditioning and what you are used to.Diana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 It is swings and roundabouts, but usually people do usually end up having more here, well they did, as we have lost one, so I'm not sure how that will affect it all statistically.Doesn't matter to us, husband's work rota means that he usually works many of them anyway, xmas day and new years day included and no extra pay, supposed to be built into his salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 I only included 6 as I felt Christmas and Good Friday are religious days and likewise did not include them in the French total.Did you take off ascension, 15 august and 1 november from the French count as well? They're religious days too. I suppose some years are better than others it just depends which day of the week they fall on. So true, this school year is a particularly bad one. I know teachers who work out what day 1st and 8th May will fall on before sorting out their timetable for the following year.I also think the standard English tradition of them mostly being on a Monday making them all into a pont feries means we can make the most of them. But there again having a day off mid week is a nice idea too. The French like having them on Tuesdays and Thursdays so they can take the monday or Friday off and have a really long weekend. I suppose it is all down to conditioning and what you are used to.I once worked out how many official holidays there were in both countries (just the number not what days) and found to my surprise that France only has one or two more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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