Finance Minister Paula Cox tabled the Public Holidays Amendment Act 2005 in the House of Assembly on Friday night.

The Act states that an employer must give his employee at least seven days notice in writing of his intention to open the shop on a public holiday or a number of public holidays. The employee can decline to work on a public holiday, but they must tell their employer in writing within seven days. Employers cannot fire an employee solely on the grounds that they did not want to work on a public holiday.said the UBP supported the amendment but added that times had changed as he could remember when the PLP Government ? when in opposition ? vigorously opposed the move to Sunday shopping. agreed that times had changed and it was time to "move this country from a sleepy backwater of commerce to be fully conversant of the 21st Century".said he was often called on a Saturday night to sing at church the following morning. He said employees ought to have the right to call their employers on Sunday morning and tell them that they wanted to go to church.declared a week's notice was fair to both parties.

"You can't call your employees an hour before and ask them to work," he said.

Dr. Gibbons said that at the beginning of the year employees could tell their employers that they wanted to go to church and both parties could then work out the schedules for Sundays.

He added many larger operations were going to have difficulty getting staff to work on Sundays at best, and would probably have to hire part-time workers.

Another Act which was amended in the House of Assembly on Friday night was the Government Fees Amendment Regulations 2005.

Dr. Gibbons said: "This is where you pay for what we just talked about".

Under the amendment the annual holiday trading licence for a shop less than 2,500 square feet is $320. The fee is $1,000 for shops larger than 2,500 square feet.

But Dr. Gibbons said the prices were too high to be incentives.said if Sunday shopping was meant to put more "pop and sizzle" into the tourism industry then Government should have made the licence cost less.

Wayne Furbert said to make it free.

But Minister Cox said the fees were reasonably priced and the bill was passed without amendments.tabled the Magistrates Amendment Act 2005 for its second reading in the House.

This bill sought to increase the amount of civil damages which could be awarded in Magistrates' Court from $10,000 to $25,000.said the bill was a piece of housekeeping which the bar counsel had thought of in 1994.

"It is a step in the right direction but there are larger fish to fry," Mr. Moniz said.said the bill did not even do "half the job" of making Bermuda's justice system more efficient.asked Minister Scott if the bill affected the Alternatives to Incarceration programme.

But Mr. Scott said it only affected civil law, not criminal and that the bill needed to be looked at in context of the whole picture which included the construction of a new Magistrates' Court.tabled a bill titled The National Training Board Amendment Act 2005.

This bill sought to increase the penalty of offences under the National Training Board Act 1997 from $500 to $10,000.

Mr. Lister said the benefits of having a nationally certified workforce included increased customer satisfaction and productivity.

Maxwell Burgess said Government needed to go a long way to assist young men in getting apprenticeships.

But Mr. Lister appealed to the public to talk to Michael Stowe at the National Training Board about their questions on apprenticeships.

UBP MP asked why the fine was increased to $10,000.

Mr. Lister replied that the fine needed to be "meaningful".tabled a Private Act from the Joint Select Committee of Private Bills titled The Reefs Beach Club Company Validation Act 2005.declared his interest in the bill and left the chamber.adjourned the House.

But in the motion to adjourn, John Barritt heatedly discussed the increase of rents at the Bermuda Housing Trust. Mr. Barritt said three acres of land had been donated to BHT from Government at Rockaway in 1996.

Coupled with the increase in rents at BHT properties he said Government was going "to build Rockaway on the backs of seniors".