Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Can anyone let me know what the deal is with Monday 23rd December 2013. Apparently I have to take a day off work unpaid (I have used my holidays for the year) but it's a normal day, its not a bank holiday - is this correct, or is my employer duping me?
Dec 25th is the only actual federal holiday. So if your employer is following federal holidays, that would be the only day off.
I know of some employers who often give part or all of Christmas Eve off as well.
Only employers who "shut down" Christmas week tend to give more off than that... and even many of them make you use vacation time or the days are unpaid.
I am not surprised one bit you would need to burn leave for the 23rd.
Is the office closing down completely? It varies, obviously, from employer to employer. Currently, if my employer closes the office as they sometimes do in Christmas Eve, it is paid time off. Christmas is the only paid holiday that week. In the past I had an employer who closed the week of Christmas, and deducted the pay every check the entire year so it wasn't noticeable. My husband is required to take 4 days of PTO the last 2 weeks of the year and can pick the days. He doesn't even get holidays.
My company works on short staff the week around xmas and new years. If you are deemed non-essential you do not work those 2 weeks. If you have PTO, you use it. If you don't, you go into negative PTO and will essentially pay it back once you've earned more. If the company doesn't do negative PTO, then it's unpaid.
Private businesses can observe or not observe whatever holidays they choose. If your employer chooses to be open on Monday, Dec. 23, that is legal. Honestly, I think that almost everyone will be open that day, except schools.
My employer closes from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1, inclusive. We get paid holidays for 4 of those days (this year, they are Dec. 25, 26, 27, and Jan. 1), and have to use vacation time for the other 2 days (this year, those days are Dec. 30 and 31).
With Christmas and New Years falling on Wednesdays, it works out somewhat awkward this year. I always take off (and use vacation time) Dec. 24 and Jan. 2, and plan to do so this year. But that leaves me working 2 isolated workdays: Monday, Dec. 23 and Friday, Jan. 3. Trying to decide if I should take either or both of those days off too. I'll probably work both days, since I'm not sure I'm comfortable being out of the office for 2 weeks, and I'm not sure that I want to burn 6 vacation days (the 2 required vacation days for Dec. 30 and 31, plus Dec. 23, 24, and Jan. 2 and 3). I'll most likely use only 4 vacation days (Dec. 30 and 31, plus Dec. 24 and Jan. 2).
As a side note, when I was in K-12 school, when Christmas would fall on a Wednesday, my school district would be open on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 2-3, but all other schools in my area would be closed! I checked some calendars this year, and that is still the case! I always felt that having a 2 day school week was just 2 wasted days, since attendance would be abysmal those days. The other school districts presumably had the same number of school days, and had those 2 extra days some other time of year (when, I don't know). Especially on Thursday, Jan. 2, 1997, when we had a snow storm, but it was not a snow day, since no other schools announced a snow day (since they were all closed anyway).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
