Holidays: Enemy of Progress?

If you're like me, you work a lot. That's because you're dedicated to your work. Heck, you NEED to work. You have goals to reach and, ah, a lot of fires to put out.

You work a lot of holidays. Certainly, most of the second-tier holidays that seem to come around every other week. I don't even pay attention to the second-tier holidays. But maybe I should -- because they're a nuisance. Even more, they're the enemy of every business owner who wants and needs to get the most for his labor dollar; who wants and needs to get the work out the door.

So when I show up at work and ask where everyone is, I get a little uptight when the answer is "It's Washington's Birthday." To be sure, I delegate personnel management to a talented, longtime employee who is much better at this stuff than I am (her name is Renae Williams and, no, she's not available). But I look like the bad guy when I grumble, "Didn't we just have a holiday?"

So then I ask Renae, "How did you decide which holidays we'd honor, just take all of 'em?"

After a few years of this, I decided I needed a new approach. I needed to get this monkey off my back. As is almost always the case, my "hangups" stem from my own ignorance. In other words, I'm the problem. And, as usual, the path to recovery begins with research. Research is the path to enlightenment.

Here is what I found. There are 10 federal holidays:

New Year's Day -- January 1

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day -- Third Monday in January

Presidents' Day (aka Washington's Birthday) -- Third Monday in February

Memorial Day -- Last Monday in May

Independence Day -- July 4

Labor Day -- First Monday in September

Columbus Day -- Second Monday in October

Veterans' Day -- November 11

Thanksgiving Day -- Fourth Thursday in November

Christmas Day -- December 25

The pertinent information here, for me, is that there is nearly one a month. So I need to get used to it. And as quickly as the weeks go by, it's no wonder that it feels like every other week.

My next question is, "Are we required to let people off on these holidays -- and pay them?" After all, the word "federal" sounds pretty doggone serious.

Turns out that few people know the answer to this. So I called an employment law attorney, Mike Lissau of Hall Estill, and asked him the question. Of course, he said, "I'll get back with you on that."

He did. There is not room in this publication to print all the facts and related conditions and disclaimers that he provided (just kidding), but the summary is that the federal government "does not require private employers to provide employees with paid holidays off."

Well now. We may be uncovering something useful here.

Next, I called a friend who owns a staffing business, who has been successful, and who has a lot of common sense. I asked, "Federal law does not require employers to give their employees ANY holidays, so what do most employers do and what is the minimum that I could get away with in my business?"

Blayne Frieden said that most businesses give their exempt (salaried) employees eight paid holidays per year, six of which are the biggies:

New Year's Day -- January 1

Memorial Day -- Last Monday in May

Independence Day -- July 4

Labor Day -- First Monday in September

Thanksgiving Day -- Fourth Thursday in November

Christmas Day -- December 25

The additional two days are picked by the employer based on his or her own beliefs or preferences, generally from the following:

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day -- Third Monday in January

Presidents' Day (aka Washington's Birthday) -- Third Monday in February

Good Friday -- The Friday before Easter Sunday

Columbus Day -- Second Monday in October

Veterans' Day -- November 11

Friday after Thanksgiving Day -- Fourth Thursday in November

Day after Christmas -- December 26

If the above listed holiday lands on a weekend, then the day off is the Friday before the holiday. In addition, some employers will give half days off, with the total equaling eight full paid holidays.

Blayne said that some employers try to give fewer days off, but employees expect to get the major holidays. He said that if employees feel their boss is "cheap," then most of them will get what they want one way or another. For example, they'll call in sick. And when this kind of thing starts happening, he said, it begins to erode the employer-worker relationship and undermine morale. So most smart business owners are not stingy with holidays -- and they get a payback in the form of better relationships with employees and a more productive workforce.

And so my journey of enlightenment has reached its natural end. The employment market dictates what employers must do, not the federal government. Employees expect eight paid holidays per year, and I can either give it to them or they'll take it from me one way or another. So I might as well give it to them and get something in return. I'll do so by providing it with all good wishes to enjoy their days off. After all, they do deserve it.

End note: You have no obligation to give any employee a paid day off, but before you refuse to give any employee an unpaid day off for any reason, such as to allow them to observe a religious holiday, contact legal counsel.