Fedweek

President Obama has issued an executive order granting most federal employees a day off on December 26, following a pattern going back many years of presidents creating four-day weekends when Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday or on a Thursday, as it does this year. However, agencies have authority to determine that certain offices and installations, or parts of them, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty that day for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need. At least in the last several decades, no president has granted an additional day off to create a four-day holiday around New Year’s Day.