Holiday Pick List

“My employees are bugging me about holidays. What do I have to do legally… and what suggestions do you have?

My HR Survival Tip

People often look forward to the holidays because it means they may get an extra day (or two) off. The biggest question is whether or not it is paid time.

Let’s take care of the legal questions first. You are not obligated to provide a paid holiday, even if you close for the day. You are also not obligated to pay any employee an “extra” amount if they work on the holiday… their regular pay for hours worked is sufficient.

You are able to provide a different group of employees a different holiday plan, such as unpaid holidays for non-exempt employees and paid holidays for exempt staff. You may even require a different eligibility period for the different groups. The trick here is to make sure the groups are clearly distinct from one another so you aren’t discriminatory (exempt vs. non-exempt, office staff vs. field employees, manager and above, etc.). Salaried employees may need to be paid for the holiday, depending upon the specific situation.

My suggestion is to consider holidays in steps, based on what your company can afford both now and going forward. Remember, closing your company for a holiday is a separate decision from paying employees for that same day. Just because you close for the day does not make it automatic that employees will receive a paid day off.

• The basic holiday package includes (1) New Year’s Day, (2) Memorial Day, (3) 4th of July, (4) Labor Day, (5) Thanksgiving, and (6) Christmas. No matter your religion, Christmas day is the standard. If employees want to celebrate a different or additional religious holiday(s), it is typically provided as vacation, PTO, or unpaid time off. Do not “swap” Christmas for the other religious holiday unless you are open on Christmas day and need workers there.
• The next most common addition is (7) President’s Day. This provides a break in the long period between New Year’s and Memorial Day.
• When you start expanding your holiday list further, you might consider adding (8) the day after Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday.
• At this point consider the total number of holidays you want and can afford to provide if these are, or will eventually become, paid holidays. Personally, I like making a couple more holidays available but I select the days specifically for each year. For instance, you might target a total of 10 holidays per year with 8 on the holidays listed above. Then “this year” you’ll also close (9) the day after Christmas because that’s a Friday and we’ll close a (10) 1/2 day on Christmas Eve and a 1/2 day on New Year’s Eve.

I’ve known several companies who choose to close between Christmas and New Year’s but, even if they have other paid holidays, they do not pay for this time. If an employee has accrued vacation or PTO time, they use that or the time off goes unpaid.

In an Employee Handbook, list the total number of days the company will be closed and list the holidays you’ve chosen (#1-8). Then send out a memo in December of each year listing the specific holidays and dates your company will observe next year. Don’t forget to post the memo somewhere employees will see it since they often forget to keep their copy.

Tell me which holidays you choose to observe… and whether they paid or unpaid!