Holiday Speculation Under Way

As commonly happens at this time of year, federal employees are wondering whether they will get time off without charge to leave around the holidays. Since the Christmas Day holiday falls on a Thursday, many employees are hoping that President Obama will grant a full day of excused absence December 26 and create a four-day weekend—and/or that he will grant a full- or half-day off for December 24. Both have been done before but there are no set standards. Employees wanting to be sure to have time off on one or both days would be wise to request to take it off as annual leave. If excused absence later is granted, that would substitute for the scheduled annual leave time, under past practice. Any announcement of a government-wide grant of time off typically comes around mid-December, and typically gives agencies discretion to decide that certain employees must remain on the job for security or other reasons, with overtime or comp time entitlement. Even if there is no general government-wide order, individual offices might give employees time off under informal practices. There is no recent precedent for the White House granting time off on December 31, although some work sites may do that informally, as well.