CHAPTER
36
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
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Governor-General authorized to appoint special
holidays. |
Hours of attendance of public officers. |
Governor-General may authorize opening of shops
on public holidays. |
Customer in shop at closing hour may be served. |
Opening of shops on Sundays. |
Drug stores may open for certain purposes. |
Licensed liquor premises subject to provisions
of Act. |
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FIRST SCHEDULE - Public Holidays. |
SECOND SCHEDULE - Shops which may Open on Sundays. |
THIRD SCHEDULE - Shops which are Prohibited from Opening
after 10. a.m. on Sundays. |
CHAPTER 36 |
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS |
An Act
relating to the closing of all public offices, banks, and shops on Sundays and
public holidays. | 15 of 1938
19 of 1941
20 of 1954
57 of 1961
46 of 1962
2 of 1964
43 of 1964
31 of 1967
16 of 1972
11 of 1973
5 of 1987
28 of 1995 |
[Commencement 21st
February, 1938] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Public Holidays Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"dealer"
means any person selling or dealing in, either by wholesale or retail, any
goods or articles of merchandise, and includes any clerk or employee of such
dealer; |
"limits of
Nassau" includes all that part of New Providence which lies within and
between the following boundaries including such boundaries, namely: North, the
Harbour of Nassau; East, Church Street; South, Meeting Street, and a line drawn
from the eastern end of such street eastwardly until it reaches a line drawn
from the southern end of Church Street; and West, Augusta Street; |
"shop"
includes any place of business or restaurant within the limits of Nassau in
which any goods or articles of merchandise (other than food, cooked or prepared
for consumption on the premises ) are sold, or kept, offered or exposed for
sale either by wholesale or retail. |
3. The several days mentioned in the
First Schedule to this Act (which days are hereinafter referred to as
"public holidays") shall be kept as close holidays in all public
offices and banks, and in all shops: | Public Holidays. |
Provided that when
any public holiday shall fall on a Sunday the following day shall be observed
and kept as a public holiday: |
Provided
also that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to prohibit the
opening of any shop on any public holiday- |
(a) for the
sale of any drugs or medicines; |
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(c) for the
sale of bread, fresh and frozen fish, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, butchers'
meat, and fresh dairy products, until the hour of ten o'clock in the morning; |
(d) for the
sale of any article required for the burial of a dead body, or in the case of
illness of any person or animal, or in any other emergency; |
(e) for the
sale of petroleum products; |
(f) for the
sale of fresh water; |
(g) for the
sale of newspapers and periodicals. |
4. It shall be lawful for the Governor-General- | Governor-General authorized to appoint special
holidays. |
(a) when it is
made to appear to the Governor-General in any special case that in any year it
is inexpedient that a day by this Act appointed as a public holiday should be a
public holiday, to declare by Order to be published in the Gazette, that
such day shall not in such year be a public holiday, and if considered
necessary, to appoint such other day as to the Governor-General may seem fit to
be a public holiday instead of such day, and thereupon the day so appointed
shall in such year be substituted for the day so appointed by this Act; |
(b) by Order to
be published in the Gazette to appoint a special day or a part of a day
to be kept as a close holiday in all public offices and banks, and in all shops
as defined by this Act, and every day so appointed shall as regards bills of
exchange and promissory notes be deemed to be a public holiday for all purposes
of this Act. |
5. (1) The several public offices of The Bahamas shall
be kept open for the transaction of business with the public on every day of
the year except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from the hour of
nine-thirty o'clock in the morning until the hour of three o'clock in the
afternoon. | Hours of attendance of public officers. |
(2)
Public officers shall attend at their respective offices on every day of the
year except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from the hour of nine
o'clock in the forenoon until the hour of five-thirty o'clock in the afternoon: |
Provided that the Governor-General
may extend the hours for the transaction of business at any public office and
may vary the hours for attendance of public officers at their respective
offices. |
(3) Every public
officer shall be permitted to absent himself from his office on every day on
which his attendance is required for a period of not more than
one hour, such period to be fixed in each case by the head of the department
concerned. |
(4) Nothing in
this section shall affect the provision of section 76 of the
Supreme Court Act or section 36 of the Post Office Act, or any other
public office or department, the hours of attendance at which are specially
fixed by law. |
6. The Governor-General may, in any special case in
which it is expedient to do so, by notice in the Gazette authorize the
carrying on of business in any shop on any public holiday. | Governor-General may authorize opening of shops on
public holiday. |
7. If a customer is in a shop when the same should be
closed, it shall be lawful for the dealer to serve such customer, but no
customer shall be admitted into a shop after the hour when the same should be
closed. | Customer in shop at closing hour may be served. |
8. (1) Notwithstanding any other written law to the
contrary but subject to the provisions of this section- | Opening of shops on Sundays. |
(a) a shop of a
kind mentioned in the
Second Schedule and to which the provisions of that Schedule apply may open for
business on Sundays; and |
(b) any other
shop in the City of Nassau or in the Port Area, as the case may be, may open
for business on any Sunday when a cruise ship is scheduled to be in the port of
Nassau or in the port of Freeport, respectively. |
(2) Nothing in
subsection (1) shall be construed as authorising the opening for business of- |
(a) a shop of a
kind mentioned in the Third Schedule, at any time after the hour of ten o'clock
in the forenoon of any Sunday; or |
(b) any shop on
Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Labour Day, Independence Day or Christmas Day. |
(3) No employee of
any shop shall be required to work on any Sunday without that employee's
consent and, when working on a Sunday, an employee shall be remunerated at the
rate applicable to work on a public holiday unless that employee is in the
normal course of employment ordinarily rostered to work on Sundays. |
(4) An employer
who dismisses or otherwise penalises an employee for refusing to work on a
Sunday is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not
exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one
year or by both such fine and imprisonment. |
(5) In this
section- |
"cruise
ship" means a vessel which- |
(a) operates
for not less than one hundred and twenty days in each year, anywhere in the
world; |
(b) provides
cruises of not less than sixty hours in length for persons holding tickets
entitling them to travel on board the vessel; and |
(c) provides on
board the vessel overnight accommodation for not less than three hundred
passengers; |
"shop"
includes any place of business or restaurant in The Bahamas in which any goods
or articles of merchandise (other than food, cooked or prepared for consumption
on the premises) are sold, or kept, offered or exposed for sale either by
wholesale or retail. |
9. Nothing in this Act contained shall be deemed to prevent
a pharmacist or chemist from opening his shop on Sundays or public holidays for
the purpose of compounding any prescription or supplying any drugs or medicines
or surgical appliances. | Drug stores may open for certain purposes. |
10. Notwithstanding the provisions of the
Liquor Licences Act or any other Act, every shop or place, other than a hotel
or restaurant licensed under the said Act for the sale of intoxicating liquor,
shall be subject to the provisions of this Act. | Licensed liquor premises subject to provisions of Act. |
11. Any person who- | Penalties. |
(a) sells, or
keeps, exposes, or offers for sale, or aids or abets any person in selling, or
keeping, exposing, or offering for sale in any shop goods or articles of merchandise
contrary to this Act; |
(b) keeps open,
or aids or abets any person in keeping open any shop contrary to this Act; |
(c) admits any
customer, or aids or abets in admitting any customer into any shop contrary to
this Act, |
shall be
liable on summary conviction for a first offence to a penalty of
two thousand five hundred dollars and for a second or subsequent offence to a
penalty of five thousand dollars. |
12. All penalties imposed by this Act shall be
recovered in a summary manner before a magistrate in the manner prescribed by
law in this behalf. | Recovery of penalties. |
FIRST SCHEDULE (Section 3) |
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS |
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1st of January.
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Good Friday.
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1st Monday after Easter.
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1st Monday after Whitsunday.
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Labour Day (first Friday in June).
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Independence Day (10th of July).
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1st Monday in August.
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12th of October.
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Christmas Day.
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Boxing Day (26th of December).
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SECOND SCHEDULE (Section 8(1)(a)) |
SHOPS WHICH MAY
OPEN ON SUNDAYS |
1. Any retail shop
whose principal business is the sale of- |
(a) ice, ice
cream and other dairy products; |
(b) bread,
fresh and frozen marine products, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, butchers'
meat; |
(c) any article
required for the burial of a dead body, or in the case of illness of any person
or animal, or in any other emergency; |
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2. Any retail shop
located within premises licensed as a Hotel under the Hotels Act or located
within premises operated as an airport or a marina. |
3. Any retail shop
whose principal business is the sale of Bahamian straw work, art and
handicraft. |
4. Any retail shop
commonly regarded as a neighbourhood store, convenience store or petty shop,
and being a shop whose principal business is the sale of grocery and personal
hygiene items. |
5. Premises
commonly known as "service stations". |
6. Any retail shop
whose principal business is the sale of food prepared at the request of members
of the public and premises commonly known as "fast food" restaurants. |
7. Any retail shop
commonly known as a "drug store" or "pharmacy" and whose
principal business is the sale of drugs, medicines or notions or the sale of
newspapers and periodicals. |
8. Any retail shop
whose principal business is the rearing of plants for sale. |
9. Any beauty
salon or barber shop. |
10. Any retail
shop whose principal business is the sale of liquefied petroleum gas, commonly
known as "cooking gas". |
11. Premises
commonly known as "laundromats". |
12. Any retail
shop whose principal business is the sale of clothing. |
13. Premises
commonly known as "photographic studios". |
14. Any retail
shop whose principal business is the sale of shoes. |
THIRD SCHEDULE (Section 8(2)(a)) |
SHOPS WHICH ARE
PROHIBITED FROM OPENING AFTER 10 A.M. ON SUNDAYS |
1. Any retail shop
of the type generally known as or regarded as a supermarket, if the business
carried on in the shop is categorised, in accordance with the provisions of the
Business Licence Act, as a very large business. |
2. Any shop
commonly known as a "membership club" or "wholesale club". |
3. Any retail shop
whose principal business is the sale of building supplies, construction
materials, electrical fixtures or plumbing fixtures. |