Draft bill 272.

Summary.

The draft bill amends the sole article of Law 31 of December 5, 1949, which sets Father's Day on the third Sunday in June each year. Its proposed replacement declares Father's Day a national holiday and sets its observance on March 19 each year. The date established by that law would therefore become the date stated in the amended article. Article 1 sets out the replacement wording of the provision governing that date.

Article 2 replaces Article 46 of the Labor Code (Código de Trabajo), which governs mandatory rest days. It adds March 19, Father's Day, to the national holidays in that list. The proposed enumeration also includes the January day identified as New Year's Day, Carnival Tuesday, the May day identified as Labor Day, the November dates associated with Panama's separation from Colombia and the consolidation of Panama's independence from Colombia, and Colón Day. It further includes the November dates associated with the First Cry of Independence in Villa de Los Santos and Panama's separation from Spain, as well as the December dates for Mother's Day and Christmas. The category concludes with the day on which the President elect of the Republic takes office. Adding Father's Day to this list would bring the proposed date within the mandatory rest provisions of that article.

The proposed wording of Article 46 also distinguishes national days of mourning from national holidays. It lists January 9, identified with the Martyrs of January 9, 1964, and Good Friday as national days of mourning. Under a separate mourning category, it includes July 8, applicable only in the distrito de Changuinola (Changuinola district), provincia de Bocas del Toro (Bocas del Toro province). These categories and the territorial scope of the latter date form part of the labor provision that the draft bill proposes to replace. Article 3 expressly identifies both amendments: the amendment to the sole article of Law 31 of 1949 and the amendment to Article 46 of the Labor Code. Article 4 provides that the proposed law would take effect on the day following its promulgation.

The proposal concerns mandatory rest under labor law and the designation of national holidays and days of mourning. Its provisions would concern employers and workers covered by the Labor Code, as well as public bodies responsible for applying the calendar of mandatory rest days and national observances. Because the labor provision also names a territorially limited day of mourning, it would concern the Changuinola district and Bocas del Toro province in that respect.