EASTER SHOPPING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10848, 14 March 1921, Page 5

EASTER SHOPPING

A PECULIAR POSITION

HOLIDAY FOR ASSISTANTS ON SATURDAY ? IF WORKED THURSDAY NIGHT. . The position in connection with the employment of assistants in shops at Easter time appears to be that if they are called upon to work on Thursday njirht they must be given the full holid.ov on Saturday. Shopkeepers have not oeen at all clear as to how they stana in the matter, and there has been much discussion as to wbat hours they can keep their shops open at Easter. Last year’s amendment to the Shops and Offices Act makes special provision for the day before Good Friday, statino- (section 2, sub-section J) that shopkeepers may employ their assistants till 9 o’clock on the Thursday nioht, providing that they shall not work at all on Easter Saturday *if their daily or weekly hours, as fixed by section 6 of the principal Act, are exceeded. This section 6 in its turn states that assistants must not be employed for more than nine hours peaday, eleven on one day, during the Ii appears that different people placed various interpretations upon the intention of the statute, and consequently an inquiry was made of the Labour Department’s head office in Wellington, but so far no definite statement hss been made as to the particular points It is proposed to ask the Minister to amend the present law next session, but in the meantime if any shopkeeper employs his assistants on Thursday night "before Good Friday without giving them a whole day off on Easter Saturday, it would appear that an offence • has been committed; at any rate, it is said, the matter will be reported to the head office, and a test case will probably be taken. The position is one of considerable interest, both to shopkeepers and their assistants.