Federal & Bank Holidays
There are ten annual U.S. federal holidays on the calendar designated by the United States Congress. There are no national holidays in the United States because Congress only has constitutional authority to create holidays for federal institutions. Most federal holidays are also observed as state holidays.
* When a federal holiday falls on a Saturday, it is usually observed on the preceding Friday. When the holiday falls on a Sunday, it is usually observed on the following Monday.
Guide to Federal and Observed Holidays
There are some federal holidays that are set for specific dates rather than days of the week, which can result in them falling on weekends. In these situations, the holidays are often set to be observed on a weekday.
The federal government can only enforce this practice for government agencies and banks, but many private American business owners follow a similar practice. In addition to helping keep full-time employees happy, this can keep businesses competitive when it comes to recruiting highly-skilled talent who value their time and work-life balance.
When do all of the federal holidays occur?
Here are the 10 federal holidays that government agencies and banks observe, listed in order of their occurrence:
| Holiday name | When it occurs |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1st |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | The third Monday in January |
| President's Day | The third Monday in February |
| Memorial Day | The last Monday in May |
| Independence Day | July 4th |
| Labor Day | The first Monday in September |
| Columbus Day | The second Monday of October |
| Veterans Day | November 11th |
| Thanksgiving Day | The fourth Thursday in November |
| Christmas Day | December 25th |
Federal employees located in Washington, D.C. also get to observe Inauguration Day on January 20th, which is considered a paid holiday for swearing in a new president. Though this is a legal holiday, it’s not considered on the same level as the ones listed above and only occurs every four years.
What happens when federal holidays occur on weekends?
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breaks down the two approaches in federal law for observing holidays depending on which non-workday they fall on: either Saturday or Sunday.
If a holiday falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday will be treated as a holiday (which applies to holiday pay and for leave purposes).
Meanwhile, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes.
Federal holidays that fall on a weekend are sometimes referred to as floating holidays. Learn more from the OPM’s fact sheet on how to handle designation of in lieu of days (and how they affect pay periods and other day off considerations).
Other holidays and their impact
Though we’ve covered the impact of federal holidays, there are plenty of other public holidays that will affect a business’s work schedule. Ideally, those scenarios should be outlined in your employee handbook.
Individual states can also choose to recognize certain public holidays as state holidays. For example, Texas recognizes Christmas Eve as a state holiday.
Depending on where you’re located, religious holidays will be a factor as well. Twelve states recognize Good Friday as a state holiday: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, and Tennessee. Additionally, the New York Stock Exchange and other financial markets close on Good Friday.
Other holidays are observed throughout the year without requiring businesses to shut down, such as Election Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day.
Understanding your business is key to juggling holidays
Whether it’s you or your HR department managing the holiday calendar, making sure everything is in order isn’t just a matter of looking at what the federal government is doing. You should also look at location customs and when your business thrives.
With so many holidays being left up to the business owner to decide how to handle them, the better you understand your business, employees, and profitability, the better decisions you can make.
