Whole Foods charged by police for opening on Good Friday

Didn't we just have a Supreme Court decision saying 'no praying in council' so government remains secular? But . . no shopping on Christain Holidays!! :~

Keep the stores closed on holidays....PERIOD. It's about downtime for people and their families. There doesn't need to be a religious reason behind it.

Ahhh, nothing like silly leftover laws from the 20th century...

Can't wait to see all of those new 21st century laws ... a ban on heterosexual marriage, compulsory euthanasia for over 75's ...

I'm thinking you'd feel a little different if you weren't getting those days off.

Holiday does stem from the phrase "Holy Day."

That said, to me (and to most other people) A holiday means a prescribed day off.

They knew exactly what they were doing.

Paying the small fine is more than worth it to be open for a full day.

One of my favorite Kosher bakeries observes the Sabbath by . .closing on Friday. By some coincidence, they tend also to be closed on other Jewish holidays. There is no legislation requiring them to do this, they do it because it's what they choose to do.

The same applies to most businesses here. There is no legislation that requires business to be closed on Sundays, but some close because it's the right thing to do. Not because they are legislated to close by a non-secular government!

Cotsco for example is famous for closing on holidays, not because they have to, but because they want to give their employees time off.

There's a lot of workers who'd probably enjoy having a regular day off instead of getting f*cked over with split days off or no days off.

Back in the 1990's a California legislator had a bill in committee that would have required most businesses to be completely closed at least one day a week - and they could pick the day. The idea was that workers needed regular time off to rest.

I agree.

Plenty of businesses operate 7 days a week and still manage to give their employees 2 consecutive days off. That's not the issue. If they mandate that all businesses must close on same day, there will just be a lot of disgruntled consumers unable to do their civic duty and buy crap to keep the economy going. Including those who would otherwise not have that day off. I don't think people would know what to do with themselves. Look at all the people willing to line up for hours at the US border to save a bit of money so they can buy even more crap - what kind of day off is that?

I asked a waitress why she was going home after only working a few hours. She explained that restaurants have busy and slack periods, so they only bring in staff as needed. It meant that she was working part days, 7 days a week, never a real day off. I'm sure this is true for many businesses, including employees having to work split shifts. I was once pressured to work split shifts to better serve our clients - no way would I do it.

I was reading how employers now use computers to optimize staffing levels, which wreaks havoc for the the employees. They are called in on short notice for a few hours work, can never plan their days. Ensures max profit for the employer, for the employee it sounds like hell.

Capitalism must be allowed to maximize profits, no matter the cost to the employees. They should be happy to be given jobs by the job givers. Your suggestions sounds like socialism, interfering in the sacrament of making money.

Why have this "Retail business holiday" law only for retail stores and not for people in other sectors? The law is dumb in that regard.

But really there shouldn't be an outright ban on doing business on any given day...PERIOD.

Ontario already has a decent set of rules for work on public holidays under the Employment Standards Act, and I'll bet that it's reasonably similar in most other provinces. I think it provides a reasonable balance, with rewards for those who would rather work and earn the extra money and also a disincentive to employers who might othersiw encroach no an employee's downtime:


- Work on the public holiday is STRICTLY VOLUNTARY - employees must agree IN WRITING and an employer cannot force anyone to work (excpetions for employers who have special designation as essential services, or "24/7" operators).

- Pay for work performed on a stat holiday must be at least 1.5x times the employee's regular rate.

- The 1.5x pay mentioned above is IN ADDTION TO the full holiday pay that the all employees receive for the public holiday. So essentially an employee who works that day is paid 2.5x for that one day. Alternatively the employee can elect to take another day off in lieu.

I think it works pretty well. No need for this extra nonsense.

You know, you and Thanos need to dial down this monotonous buzz of how all conservatives are mean, hateful people who get up every day wondering how we're going to oppress someone else. The two of you manage to constantly outrage yourselves over shit that just isn't true.

On the one hand I know you wanted to condemn me for being a Christian who thinks people should have a day of rest to themselves but then you're pulling this tactic to not-so-slyly condemn me for not being a lock-step exploiter of the proletariat.

I can't get a haircut from a barber around here on a Sunday.

Mama Mia!

Costco also saves time and a half for employees who work on a stat, but I'm sure in their case that isn't the real issue. People who shop there are shopping THERE and not browsing from store to store to store selling the same damn things. They're sort of 'captive' customers.
But gov't has no business telling stores when they can be open. Regulate the days which they must pay overtime if they do, and I'd go for adding Sundays to that list. My socialist 2c