U.S. "Holiday" Days?

[Arnwyn]

This is a question for the Americans on the board: What days in the year do most Americans get the day off (or, alternately, do kids get the day off school)? For example, do the rough 'majority' of Americans get President's Day (Feb) off? How about Columbus Day (Oct)? Memorial Day (May)?

Further, is U.S. Thanksgiving a 4-day weekend? If so, is it always a 4-day weekend? Also, how about Independence Day?


Thanks in advance for the info!

 

[Pbartender]

Further, is U.S. Thanksgiving a 4-day weekend? If so, is it always a 4-day weekend? Also, how about Independence Day?

Technically, no, but it depends on the company you work for, and their policy on Holidays.

For exampe, I work at a federal research laboratory. Our holiday schedule is:

New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thankgiving Day
Day after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve (1/2 day)
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve (1/2 day)

Plus one "Floating Holiday" of the employee's choice.

US Federal holidays can be found here.

These are US holidays that are designated by Congress. Non-essential federal government offices are closed. Banks and schools are generally closed as well.

Our lab is not essential, but is technically contracted out by the Dept. of Energy, so we don't get all of those holidays off -- we trade Inauguration Day, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day and President's Day for an extra day at Thanksgiving, another day split between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and the "Floater".

 

[diaglo]

New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Day
President's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veterans' Day
Thankgiving Day
Christmas Day

fixed it for me.

i am a federal employee.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I work at various clients in the DC area, most of whom follow the federal schedule, for convenience if nothing else. Some do more; the ones I spend my primary hours have generally abdicated on the issue of the day after Thanksgiving, for example.

 

[kenobi65]

I work at an advertising agency. Previously, I worked in market research for a personal-care products company, and a food company.

Our holiday schedule for this year is:

New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Presidents Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Friday after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve

This is pretty much the same schedule that I had at my previous jobs, except that we didn't get MLK Day or Presidents Day off.

MLK Day is a relatively recent holiday (only established about 20 years ago), and a lot of businesses seem to treat it like Presidents Day and Columbus Day (and, thus, they don't close for them).

Many offices (and pretty much all schools) close for the day after Thanksgiving, probably figuring that absenteeism would be rampant that day anyway.

Frequently, the places where I've worked will give an extra day off next to Independence Day, if it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday (in order to give a 4-day weekend). With the 4th falling smack in the middle of the week this year, we're out of luck. (OTOH, I'm going to Origins that weekend, and was going to take that Thursday and Friday off this year anyway.)

These days off are pretty common for people who work in offices. If you work retail, you can't count on getting a lot of those holidays off...many stores are open every day except Christmas.

Finally, most years, my agency closes during the week between Christmas and New Year's, so it's a full week+ off. Sweet.

 

[kenobi65]

For exampe, I work at a federal research laboratory.

Fermilab or Argonne, perhaps?

 

[Huw]

For exampe, I work at a federal research laboratory. Our holiday schedule is:

That's really short. For some reason I thought that you lot had about 15 days worth of public holidays.

 

[Pbartender]

Fermilab or Argonne, perhaps?

Fermilab.

 

[GlassJaw]

A lot of companies give employees the week after Christmas off. Every place I've worked at does. We get a few less holidays during the year but that week off is awesome.

I also get Victory Day off, which is Aug 13. Technically, it's Victory Over Japan Day, and I think RI is one of the last states to recognize it. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Working in a fast food restaurant, our only holiday off is Christmas Day. We close early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, open late on New Year's Day. Thanksgiving is on a voluntary, paid overtime rate, day. We're open but it's voluntary to work that day. All other holidays, we're open.