President Trump gives federal employees Christmas Eve off with pay
by Pinedale Online!
December 18, 2019
On December 17th, President Trump issued an Executive Order giving federal employees December 24th, Christmas Eve, off with pay. This is the second year in a row President Trump has given federal employees Christmas Eve off. The designated holidays for federal employees include Christmas Day, but not Christmas Eve. The order adds that leadership can determine which offices and employees must stay open despite the holiday "for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need."
There are about 2 million full-time government employees in the United States, not counting postal employees. We couldn’t find any numbers from official sources on the cost to taxpayers for a federal holiday, but reports we did find put it in the neighborhood of as much as $500 million per holiday. Currently, federal employees get ten paid holidays off (New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas).
Below is the Executive Order:
Executive Order on Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2019
Issued on: December 17, 2019
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, the day before Christmas Day.
Sec. 2. The heads of executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2019, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.
Sec. 3. December 24, 2019, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.
Sec. 4. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement this order.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 17, 2019
Source: www.whitehouse.gov
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