One can attend a liberation festival on Friday, while the other just has to sit in the office all day. Liberation Day is officially a national holiday, but that does not give any guarantee that you could get a day off.
The day we celebrate the liberation of our country was given the status of a national holiday in 1990. But that doesn’t automatically make it a day off. Whether you can actually celebrate a liberation party depends on your collective labour agreement or employment contract. It specifies whether or not you have to work on Liberation Day.
Next lustrum day in 2025
Most organisations agreed that staff would only have an official day off at the employer’s expense once every lustrum (once in five years). The next time we get a day off on liberation day will be on May 5, 2025. However, some sectors always continue to operate during the holidays, such as supermarkets, healthcare and catering. Shops are also allowed to open their doors on Liberation Day.
Official day off in some sectors
There are also companies that choose to give their employees time off every year. For many civil servants, May 5 is a day off every year. The education sector and the automobile industry have a holiday for Liberation Day every year.
The National Committee for May 4 and 5 have been urging for some time to make May 5 a legally accepted fixed day off for everyone. So far, the government has not responded.
Source: Omroep Brabant
For Eindhoven News: Beena Arunraj
