A petition has been launched on the public initiatives platform Manabalss.lv over the weekend to halt proposed amendments that would reduce overtime and holiday pay bonuses.
Within two days, nearly 8,000 people had signed the initiative.
The initiative’s representative Inga Bērziņa is calling for the rushed amendments to Article 68 of the Labour Law of Latvia to be stopped and for the current regulation to be maintained, which ensures fair compensation for employees working overtime and on public holidays. She argues that the vote in the Saeima Social and Labour Affairs Committee was conducted hastily and without a clear economic justification, creating legal inconsistencies and significantly reducing workers’ incomes.
According to the initiative, it is unacceptable to reduce overtime pay from 100% to 50% and holiday overtime bonuses to 75%. The authors also claim that, as a result of the vote, the law would effectively remove the bonus for regular work performed on a public holiday. Bērziņa stresses that such changes would harm employees’ welfare, weaken motivation, and create social injustice.
The initiative demands that existing guarantees be preserved,
legal certainty strengthened, and workers protected from losing a significant share of their income amid inflation.
At the same time, Edmunds Jurēvics, head of the parliamentary faction of New Unity, told LETA news agency that the 100% bonus for work on public holidays will remain unchanged. He emphasised that double pay on national holidays such as Restoration of Independence Day (the 4th of May) and Latvian Independence Day (the 18th of November) would not change, while the overtime bonus on ordinary working days could be reduced to 50%.
Opposition to the proposed reductions has also been voiced by MP Selma Teodora Levrence, who indicated that her party might not support the changes during the second reading.
Previously, the Saeima committee supported amendments proposing a 50% bonus for overtime and 75% for overtime worked on public holidays, voting in favour of a proposal by Ingrīda Circene of New Unity. After the vote, it was noted that the law would effectively remove the additional pay for regular work on public holidays if it does not qualify as overtime.
Employers support the reduction of bonuses in the name of competitiveness, while the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS) continues to insist that overtime should retain 100% compensation, warning that the changes could significantly reduce workers’ incomes and state tax revenues.
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