Law that turned Corpus Christi into Rio’s state holiday questioned by STF

• Disposal of assets from Rio: Projects authorizing the sale of Maracanã, subject to amendments including Engueñon, Rodobialía Novo Rio and Central do Brasil
• Transfer from Rio: The seven heads of the CV are already in solitary confinement at the Catandubas federal prison in Paraná state in the south of the country.

The CNC claims that the change to state holidays will “suffer negative economic and financial consequences” for the business community, which cannot operate without permission from the competent authorities and, under the provisions of the Consolidated Labor Law (CLT), will be obliged to pay double wages to those working on those days.

The agency also said Corpus Christi has historically been an optional point in Rio that has allowed religious celebrations for Christians without affecting the functioning of commerce, on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the collective practices of each category.

“It is therefore worth emphasizing that before the enactment of the law in question, employees who worked on this day, especially those working in the tourist industry, such as hotels, bars, restaurants, theaters and cinemas, in addition to shopping centres, did not receive double wages, except in certain cases provided for in collective agreements,” CNC stressed in its petition to the Supreme Court.

The federation also argues that the establishment of holidays by states is not supported by the federal constitution and that the creation of holidays is the prerogative of the federation, based on Federal Law No. 9,093. The CNC criticizes the fact that only Rio de Janeiro has this day as a state holiday.

“The state is left with one national holiday per year. Law 9,093 of 1995 gave the possibility of declaring a state-wide public holiday in commemoration of its main dates. Since the Brazilian state is secular, the declaration of religious holidays by the state is not supported by the Federal Constitution,” defends the federation.

The organization criticizes Rio’s high number of public holidays.

“Rio de Janeiro in particular already has other state holidays specific to Rio de Janeiro, and there is a tendency for the indiscriminate proliferation of holidays commemorating São Jorge and Zumbi dos Palmares, especially on April 23 and November 20.”

The Corpus Christi holiday was included in the official Rio state calendar after a law establishing the day was published in the Official Gazette on October 23, approved by Governor Claudio Castro. With this, Rio becomes the first state in Brazil to adopt this day as a state holiday.

Until then, Corpus Christi had only been considered as an optional point by the federal government, with state and local governments deciding whether to have a holiday.