Lafazan proposes more paid days off for county workers, for a total of 16 paid holidays

Nassau County government workers apparently do not get enough paid days off.

Besides sick days, vacation days and personal days, they currently are entitled to 13 paid holidays each year. Try to guess what they are.

You can check your answers in the county official holiday calendar for 2022: 

 Now Legis. Joshua Lafazan, a Woodbury Democrat who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Congress this year, introduced legislation today that would add three more holidays to the county work year: the Lunar New Year, Eid al-Adha and Diwali.

The Lunar New Year is an important Chinese holiday that celebrates the New Year.

Eid-al-Adha is a Muslim holiday that, according to Wikipedia involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat in three equal parts – for family, for relatives and friends, and for poor .

Diwali is a festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs, again according to Wikipedia. 

Adding those holidays would bring the total paid holidays in Nassau government to 16 a year.

Lafazan also submitted separate legislation requiring the Republican administration of County Executive Bruce Blakeman to promptly engage in collective bargaining with Nassau's unions to add those holidays to their calendar.

Lafazan's explains in his proposed legislation that  "Celebrating and recognizing holidays and festivals are essential to keep traditions alive, contribute to a sense of community, and encourage mutual understanding between people who desire to learn about diverse cultures and beliefs within our county and country..."

It also doesn't hurt for a politician who is in the midst of a hotly contested race and looking for votes to give union workers more days off and to recognize voters in overlooked and marginalized communities.

The next question is whether Presiding Officer Rich Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) puts the proposal on the legislature's calendar.  

But meanwhile, what happened to Juneteenth, which Democrats proposed as a holiday last year?

Here is the Lafazan proposal, with his proposed new holidays marked in red: