Local
Federal workers await word on day off
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
November 20, 2008
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees around the Washington area are waiting for President George Bush to decide whether to give them off the day after Christmas.
The calendar has conspired against federal workers this season — the days after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day are all Fridays.
That means employees are facing the prospect of self-restraint at the holiday table or using a vacation day to recover from their feasting. “They’re regularly scheduled workdays,” Office of Personal Management spokesman Peter Graves told The Examiner. “We need an executive order.”
Well, Mr. President?
“I don’t know if we’re ready to announce it,” White House spokesman Carlton Carroll said.
Last year, the president gave a reprieve to workers because Christmas Eve was on a Monday. They got the day off.
But the President has never ordered a holiday for the day after Thanksgiving or New Year’s, Carroll said.
“Well, the day after Thanksgiving is always a Friday,” Carroll said.
Most employees of local governments are in the same boat: Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, whose government is facing a budget crisis, is still deciding on whether his workers will get the day after Christmas off.
In Alexandria, employees will get the Friday after Thanksgiving and then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, a spokesman said.
Fairfax employees are required to show on all three day afters, a county spokeswoman said.
Things aren’t as bleak for the hundreds of employees who work at D.C.’s courts, which are federally funded and controlled. Most will get the day after Thanksgiving off, spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz told The Examiner.
Those who work with the season’s ultra-naughty — accused felons and juvenile delinquents — will have to show up to work, Gurowitz said.
Bush’s decision regarding the day after Christmas will be made in mid-December, Carroll said.
Federal employees will have some consolation in the regime change — government policy makes Inauguration Day a paid holiday.
The calendar has conspired against federal workers this season — the days after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day are all Fridays.
That means employees are facing the prospect of self-restraint at the holiday table or using a vacation day to recover from their feasting. “They’re regularly scheduled workdays,” Office of Personal Management spokesman Peter Graves told The Examiner. “We need an executive order.”
Well, Mr. President?
“I don’t know if we’re ready to announce it,” White House spokesman Carlton Carroll said.
Last year, the president gave a reprieve to workers because Christmas Eve was on a Monday. They got the day off.
But the President has never ordered a holiday for the day after Thanksgiving or New Year’s, Carroll said.
“Well, the day after Thanksgiving is always a Friday,” Carroll said.
Most employees of local governments are in the same boat: Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, whose government is facing a budget crisis, is still deciding on whether his workers will get the day after Christmas off.
In Alexandria, employees will get the Friday after Thanksgiving and then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, a spokesman said.
Fairfax employees are required to show on all three day afters, a county spokeswoman said.
Things aren’t as bleak for the hundreds of employees who work at D.C.’s courts, which are federally funded and controlled. Most will get the day after Thanksgiving off, spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz told The Examiner.
Those who work with the season’s ultra-naughty — accused felons and juvenile delinquents — will have to show up to work, Gurowitz said.
Bush’s decision regarding the day after Christmas will be made in mid-December, Carroll said.
Federal employees will have some consolation in the regime change — government policy makes Inauguration Day a paid holiday.
