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mcemc3 t1_j59ymxc wrote

Just like how you can now buy alcohol on Sundays, the state is trying to roll back their Blue Laws

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NativeMasshole t1_j5a49az wrote

This is what gets me. It was an outdated blue law which was meant to encourage people to go to church. What's more, it had such an uneven application that retailers were the vast majority of businesses who actually had to pay it. It was a shit law.

If people want premium pay on the weekends, then they should push for a law that makes sense in modern standards, is clear about what it's for, and doesn't have a million loopholes so that it doesn't disproportionately impact one job sector.

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[deleted] t1_j5aim8o wrote

[deleted]

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NativeMasshole t1_j5al3qy wrote

>guess it could encourage businesses to just close.

That's exactly it. Ironic that it's had the opposite effect and had people wanting to work on Sunday.

Anyway, it does kind of make sense from the religious perspective, because Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest where you don't work, so it's essentially the same as holiday pay. But that could also be considered discriminatory, since it only goes for the Christian day of rest. Also redundant, because Mass already has a day of rest law which requires at least 1 day off a week.

All the people calling it regressive to phase out Sunday pay are only looking at it from one extremely narrow angle.

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Tacoman404 t1_j5b0dlq wrote

The original intent and connotation be damned it was to encourage a day of rest and with the primary affected group being retail employees, which tend to be lower/working class it was excellent way to benefit those who have seen some of the worst wage growth (only worse are probably truck drivers) since their fruition. The world is a little quieter too when every retailer isn't open for 12 hours a day one day a week.

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goldenj04 t1_j5ci34n wrote

Why should that day be Sunday? I’m Jewish, so I can’t work or shop on Saturday or Friday night. If businesses are all closed on Sundays I’m fucked.

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A_Man_Who_Writes OP t1_j59zzo8 wrote

That’s fine and dandy. The difference to me is that this particular “blue law” benefits thousands if not millions of hardworking people. Why take that away?

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Lil_Brown_Bat t1_j5a3kvz wrote

Because it violates the first amendment's freedom of and from religion. If the state requires you to pay more for one religion's holy day and not any others', it is violating the separation of church and state. Removing this and increasing min wage across the board is ultimately the right thing to do.

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Candid-Tumbleweedy t1_j5a4a6b wrote

Yea why was Sunday special? Historically because we cared about the Christian day or rest but not the Jewish one. That’s kinda fucked in a “progressive” state that pretends to have a separation of church and state.

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Lil_Brown_Bat t1_j5a53y4 wrote

MA has a long history of laws and regulations based in Christianity. What you and I interpret today as "progressive" wasn't always the case. Once upon a time, time and a half on Sundays was progressive.

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Aggressive_Lake191 t1_j5afei4 wrote

In reality, where retail is these days, it would just mean higher prices. It is easy to put this in a us vs. them rant, but it is really us vs. us.

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[deleted] t1_j5a05ok wrote

[deleted]

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DWRGT3 t1_j5ab403 wrote

Right? Haha!!

Let’s literally get down to brass tax here folks…yours is the true answer.

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SuperSpartacus t1_j5alf7l wrote

Because it’s literally designed to help Catholics over everyone else

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