A Win-Win Bonus Holiday?
How would you like a nine day holiday that would cost you only 24 hours of annual leave? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says the necessary stars are about to go...
When Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, as it does this year, it is the federal equivalent of all 9 planets (I refuse to discount Pluto) aligning. A Tuesday or Thursday Christmas holiday sets the stage for a rare, but wonderful event: The possibility of a 4-day weekend for 1.6 million federal workers from Austin to Athens and all points in between.
That’s a total of 9 days off at a cost of only 24 hours of annual leave!
If approved it means workers could be off from Dec. 20 to Dec. 28 by using only 3 days of annual leave. Even more time to shop, spend, eat out, travel or caulk your house. Unlike those stimulus “rebates” which we all paid for, this would be an economy-boosting pump-priming action that would benefit communities all over the nation. And at very little cost to the government. Maybe, if you figure heat and energy savings (like commuters using gasoline) it could even save money.
Monday’s column dealt with the issue of what happens when Dec. 25 hits on a Tuesday or a Thursday. We listed the track record for what past Presidents have done when Christmas fell on a Tuesday. In most cases, workers got Monday the 24th off, but many readers wanted to know why we didn’t tell what happened when the 25th is on Thursday.
Good point!
Here’s why we didn’t give you the Thursday past practice example: Because we couldn’t get any info from the government. We know they’ve got it, but it was not forthcoming. But… 
The beauty of a column aimed at active and retired feds is that they know just about everything. Because of their jobs, their specialties, their training, hobbies or natural curiosity, they know about everything from Moon Rocks to Moon Pies. They make excellent researchers because they know how to find things out. Also, they work for peanuts which is always a plus.
The first to the rescue was Jim from the Labor Department. He writes:
A review of calendar dates for the past 50 years shows these years had a Friday, December 26: 1958, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1986, 1997, and 2003.
President Jimmy Carter declared 12/26 a federal holiday in 1980, President Bill Clinton did in 1997, and President George W. Bush did in 2003.
Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to finish the task and report which other presidents, if any, designated a PRESIDENTIAL-HOLIDAY December 26 in 1958, 1969, 1975 and 1986!
Additional research into Presidential Executive Orders shows, that beginning as early as 1958, Presidents have signed an E.O. excusing most fed employees from duty on Friday, 12/26.
President Bush will become the only President in the past 51 years to have the opportunity to do it more than one time. Case closed.
We’re all counting on you, and thank you! And a Merry Christmas to you! J.C.
Holiday Hassles
If the President were to grant non-postal feds a special Dec. 26 holiday it could cause some “problems” for people on evening shiftwork (who worry about the shift to and from daylight savings time) or Alternate Work Schedules.
A reader, Dale W., asked “what happens to employees who have Friday, Dec. 26th as a AWS off day due to an alternative work schedule (9 or 10 hour days)? If I remember correctly, an employee taking leave on that day would no longer have to take leave, but what if it is the employee’s day off?”
Benefits expert Ed Zurndorfer says this is how it would work:
If Friday, Dec 26, 2008 is designated as a holiday for federal employees by the President and if an employee’s alternative work schedule (AWS) day off is that Friday, then the employee is allowed to choose another AWS day for that pay period. For example, the employee could (with a supervisor’s approval) choose Monday, Dec 29, 2008 as an AWS day.
Nearly Useless Factoid
Apples are a member of the rose family.
To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com
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